Cathie Wood Says The Dormant Bitcoin Whale Movement Is Probably A Legal Settlement

On Friday, Bitcoin (BTC) witnessed the biggest single-day shift in long-held coins. While, this can happen for various reasons, leading industry figures like Cathie Wood have made a significant claim.

Cathie Wood Suggests That Record Bitcoin Shift Could Involve Government

On-chain analyst David Puell revealed via X that 1.1 million coinyears were destroyed in 24 hours. This means coins with 6.5 years of holding time value moved at once.

Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest, responded to the data on X. She compared it to the second-largest destruction event in Bitcoin history. She then raised an eyebrow-raising question: Was this linked to a government settlement deal?

Coinblock destruction tracks when old coins are moved. The higher the coin age, the more significant the move. That’s why 1.1 million coinyears raised alarms across crypto circles. Despite the size of the shift, Bitcoin’s price barely moved. That calm led to further speculation.

Cathie Wood pointed out the lack of market reaction. She suggested it may not have been a typical whale transfer. Instead, she claimed that this block could now be sitting in a government Treasury. That implies a large-scale, off-market move, possibly as part of a legal settlement.

Though Cathie Wood didn’t name a country or agency, the timing raised questions. Recent headlines show regulators cracking down on crypto firms.

Low Market Volatility Suggests State-Level Bitcoin Accumulation

Governments have been seizing digital assets in growing volumes. It’s possible a large holding was surrendered under legal pressure or as part of a court agreement.

If Cathie Wood’s claim is true, this would not be the first time states have quietly taken control of large Bitcoin stashes. In the US, for example, authorities have auctioned seized BTC in the past. But this shift was different. It involved unusually old coins and it happened in one sharp move.

Some analysts think this could be the rise of a new trend of strategic Bitcoin accumulation by governments. With crypto playing a bigger role in global finance, more countries may want BTC reserves. Based on Cathie Wood’s perspective, this was not just a whale reshuffling their assets. It could mark the start of state-level BTC stockpiling.

So far, the wallet behind the historic Bitcoin shift is still unknown. But the fact that market volatility stayed low when it happened hints at a planned and possibly internal transfer. This further supports Cathie Wood’s suspicion of a state-linked operation.