By Richard Hines
Yesterday, the 23rd of November, it came to light that a bunch of criminals had secretly made over 5000% profit on bitcoin. The “criminals” in question are BTC-e, the famous crypto exchange that packed up in 2017 following money laundering allegations by the US government. It appears that the exchange has been secretly moving bitcoins from its wallet since about a month ago.
BTC-e Exchange Secretly Moves Bitcoin From Wallet and Allegedly Made 5000% In Profit
It has become apparent that the packed-up crypto exchange, which was in control of about 3% of the bitcoin supply at the time before it was shut down by the US government, has made what could be called a cunning and brazen comeback.
Yesterday, on the 23rd of November 2022, it came to light that BTC-e made a withdrawal of 10,000 bitcoins (BTC) worth about $165 million to two unknown wallets. According to the intel received afterwards, it appears that this development has been going on for a while.
The famous crypto analytics firm, Chainalysis, reported the same thing yesterday (November 23rd) the withdrawals from BTC-e started around a month ago, in October. Also, added intel from chainalysis clarifies that before the transfer of bitcoin to an exchange on the 21st of November, BTC-e had conducted a test payment on November 11th.
Following close scrutiny of the series of transactions, it became clear that 9,950 bitcoins of the total bitcoin transferred are in personal wallets, while the rest have been transferred to about four addresses belonging to two crypto exchanges.
The blockchain security company Peckshield also reported that the wallet address that had received the 10,000 BTC in 2014 and the address in these recent transactions are the same.
Also, the founder of CryptoQuant, a leading crypto data company, has made a public notice that about 65 bitcoins were transferred to the famous crypto exchange HitBTC, and he has implored that HitBTC suspends the said account.
A Whooping 5000% Profit Was Made
It appears that these moves were carefully planned by the perpetrators, as it becomes evident that a significant percentage of profit totalling about 5000% was made.
The bitcoins, which were acquired at the price of $297 back in 2015, are now worth about $16,617, leaving them with an almost unbelievable profit margin.
Fingers are crossed as plans are hopefully being made to address the situation.