What is a Crypto Whale? (Beginner’s Guide 2024)

What is a Crypto Whale?

A ‘crypto whale’ is a term used to describe high net-worth individuals or entities that hold a significant amount of cryptocurrency. 

These investors are called ‘whales’ because their holdings are so large they can influence market prices. Some studies claim that a single cryptocurrency whale was responsible for the Bitcoin bull run in 2017! 

What are the different types of whales? 

Whales typically come in two categories: individual or institutional. 

Individual whale: An individual whale is typically a high net-worth crypto investor. 

Institutional whale: An institutional whale may be an exchange, a DeFi protocol, or a crypto trading firm that holds a large amount of crypto. 

Why do crypto whales matter? 

Let’s walk through a few reasons why it’s important to track crypto whales. 

Whales move markets

Cryptocurrency whales can significantly impact the value of your holdings. 

Because cryptocurrency whales own so much cryptocurrency, their buying/selling decisions can impact the value of a specific project, or in some cases, the value of the entire crypto market. 

Whales impact governance 

Cryptocurrency whales can also impact governance decisions for specific projects. They may have the power to influence a project’s roadmap, or how the project distributes funds to users. 

Whales can help you spot new projects 

Cryptocurrency whales may invest in exciting new projects before the general public. Tracking whale activity may help you spot these projects before they gain popularity. 

How much crypto do I need to be classified as a whale? 

While there’s no definitive threshold for being classified as a cryptocurrency whale, some analysts classify investors as whales if they meet one of the following conditions: 

• Owning 1,000 units or more of BTC 
• Owning $10 million of a specific cryptocurrency 

How do I track crypto whales? 

Interested in tracking crypto whales? Remember, all crypto transactions are publicly viewable on the blockchain. As a result, blockchain explorers and ‘whale trackers’ can be used to monitor whale activity. 

Blockchain Explorers: Explorers like Etherscan can be used to find cryptocurrency whales. Simply enter the project that you’re interested in, then click on ‘Holders’. From here, you’ll be able to see the wallets that own the most tokens! 

Whale trackers: Whale Alert is a popular platform that monitors millions of transactions, and sends out notifications for whale activity. You can follow Whale Alert on X to get real-time updates on whale activity! 

Publicly available lists: There are publicly available lists of known whale wallets — such as this list from r/cryptowhalewatching. 

Portfolio trackers: Crypto portfolio trackers can be used to track the value of wallets across dozens of blockchains. You can use these tools not just to track your own portfolio, but the portfolio of any known wallet address.

Who is the largest crypto whale in the world? 

The largest cryptocurrency whale in the world is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudo-anonymous creator of Bitcoin. 

The wallet address featured in Bitcoin’s white paper, which holds approximately 1 million BTC, is often attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. 

To this day, Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity has not been revealed to the public.

How do crypto whales hide their identity? 

Crypto whales often protect their identities by using multiple wallet addresses or using over-the-counter (OTC) trading to conduct large transactions without causing major market disruptions and attracting attention.

These techniques can make it difficult for everyday investors to trace transactions back to a single whale. 

Who are the biggest crypto whales in the world? 

Let’s walk through some well-known whale wallet addresses. 

1. 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa: This Bitcoin wallet address is widely assumed to be owned by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudo-anonymous founder of Bitcoin. The BTC in this wallet has never been moved. 
2. 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045: This is one of the known wallet addresses for Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. Buterin currently has an estimated net worth of more than $800 million. 
3. 0x293Ed38530005620e4B28600f196a97E1125dAAc: This wallet address has been associated with former Shark Tank co-host and prominent crypto investor Mark Cuban. 
4. 0xf584F8728B874a6a5c7A8d4d387C9aae9172D62: This wallet address has been associated with Jump Trading — a sister trading firm of the venture capital firm Jump Capital. 
5. 0xbcd5000f5c522856e710c5d274bb672b2f2eefbf: This wallet address has been associated with Polychain Capital — a prominent crypto investment firm. 

What are some techniques whales can use to manipulate markets? 

Crypto whales can manipulate the market to their benefit by using underhanded tactics. 

Whale Wall Spoofing: A whale places a large order to buy or sell a specific cryptocurrency, without ever intending for the trade to be executed. Traders who see these large orders may panic into making buy/sell decisions. 

Wash Trading: A whale rapidly buys and sells an asset to make transaction volume for a specific cryptocurrency go up, creating the illusion of high activity and high demand. 

Disseminating False Information: Whales and other market manipulators may spread false information on forums and social media. This misinformation can lead to price movements that benefit the manipulators. 

Understanding these tactics is crucial, because it can help you identify potential manipulation and position yourself accordingly. 

In conclusion

Cryptocurrency whales can have a big impact on the crypto market — influencing prices, liquidity, and overall market sentiment. By tracking whale activity, you can have a step up when it comes to making better trading and investing decisions.