Bitcoin Whales Split: Giant Addresses Continue Accumulating, Mid-Sized Holders Accelerate Selling

U.S. real GDP rose at an annualized quarterly rate of 3.4% in the third quarter, exceeding market expectations, with consumer spending and business equipment investment increasing by 3.8% and 20.9% respectively. The September PCE price index rose 3.6% year-on-year, up from August’s 3.4%. The robust growth and persistent inflation pose a challenge to Federal Reserve Chair Waller’s assessment that the economy is not overheating. This week, the Federal Reserve voted 10 to 2 to hold interest rates steady at 3.75% to 4%. Waller argued that technological advances like AI could boost productivity, so faster growth alone does not mean inflationary pressures are rising. As of Friday, market pricing indicated an approximately 80% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike in December. KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk noted that inflation remains widespread, particularly concentrated in the services sector which is slower to respond to interest rate changes, and it’s unclear whether the modest cooling will ease its stickiness. She warned that tighter financial conditions stem in part from market expectations of future rate hikes, and actual policy action is still needed to address this. BNY Investments chief economist Vincent Reinhart projected that the Fed still needs two more rate hikes, and there is a risk of additional hikes amid elevated oil prices.

Renowned trader Killa posted that the collapse of FTX marked the market bottom, and the Binance hack would do the same. He noted the market may take some time to digest temporary shocks and rebalance, but remains bullish on the longer-term market outlook. Killa argues that driving a significant price rally is more conducive to recouping losses than letting prices continue to fall, and expects Binance to take corresponding actions. He added that Binance holds billions of dollars in Bitcoin, giving it the financial capacity to build billions of dollars in long positions that may not be visible to retail investors. Additionally, he speculates that Binance may have generated around $1 billion in profits from liquidations, slippage, and trading fees.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, BlackRock transferred 37,470 ETH (valued at approximately $83.3 million) from its ETF wallet to Coinbase Prime.

According to an official statement from BNB Chain, BNB Smart Chain, opBNB, BNB Greenfield, and BNB Chain’s bridge contracts were not impacted by the recent Binance security incident, with all services running normally. On-chain funds on the network remain secure. BNB Chain stated it will support Binance and the team that has been addressing the security incident since last night. It emphasized that security and industry trust require collective efforts from all parties, and it will continue collaborating with ecosystem partners to safeguard this shared trust.

According to Binance CEO He Yi’s disclosure, Binance is acquiring altcoins that exactly match its stolen assets via over-the-counter (OTC) and on-exchange trading to complete its Proof of Reserves (PoR) process, and will update on progress once purchases are finalized. Combined with this statement and the already disclosed stolen asset records, these include 233.46 million XRP (valued at ~$296 million), 970,500 SOL (~$96 million), and 46.4 million TRX (~$16 million). Additionally, the hacker has dumped seven tokens—UNI, ENA, PEPE, LINK, AAVE, ONDO, WLD—converting them into 70,480 ETH for a total transaction value of ~$158.25 million. The dump amounts for UNI, ENA, PEPE, and LINK stand at ~$39.63 million, ~$33.93 million, ~$31.66 million, and ~$26.05 million respectively. Other stolen assets also include 74.56 million ARB (~$11.54 million), 714.911 million FUN (~$6.29 million), 87.853 million ZAMA (~$6.02 million), 3.602 million ZRO (~$5.69 million), and 3.382 billion RSR (~$5.02 million).

Synthetix issued a statement noting that the SNX tokens stolen from Binance have been recovered by the Synthetix Protocol DAO, and are now safely held in the Protocol DAO’s Safe wallet. The protocol added that it has notified Binance, and will return the relevant tokens once it receives Binance’s request.