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Cryptic clues: Uncovering possible Bitcoin manipulation before Grayscale win

Cryptic clues: Uncovering possible Bitcoin manipulation before Grayscale win

On August 29, Bitcoin (BTC) went from $25,900 to $28,100 (+8.6%) in less than three hours amid positive news regarding the Federal Court ruling on the Grayscale v. SEC case about the regulator’s decision on the spot Bitcoin ETF.

Interestingly, crypto analysts identified a few signs that could indicate price manipulation or some sort of insider trading. As stated by the crypto influencer, Lark Davis, on X (formerly Twitter):

“Somebody always knows.”

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark on X)

The above comment was made to a post by the crypto analyst Ali Martinez (@ali_charts). “Signs of Bitcoin manipulation?”, questions Ali while showing that around 30,000 BTC was sent to cryptocurrency exchanges just a few moments before the positive news and the price pump.

Chart: Supply on exchanges (BTC), exchange inflow (BTC), and price. Source: @ali_charts
Bitcoin manipulation before Grayscale win
Chart: Supply on exchanges (BTC), exchange inflow (BTC), and price. Source: @ali_charts

“Whales and Sharks may have known a thing or two”, says Santiment Pro analyst

Notably, an analyst from behavior analysis platform Santiment suggested something similar while pointing to on-chain data showing that Bitcoin addresses holding between 10 to 10,000 BTC were accumulating over $388.3 million in Bitcoin on August 28 — the day before the positive news about Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF case against the SEC.

Shark & Whales wallets had the biggest accumulation jump of the summer right before the bullish ETF news — Bitcoin (BTC) 10-10K wallet holdings & social volume. Source: Sanbase Pro

Bitcoin manipulation before Grayscale win
Shark & Whales wallets had the biggest accumulation jump of the summer right before the bullish ETF news — Bitcoin (BTC) 10-10K wallet holdings & social volume. Source: Sanbase Pro

“Whales & sharks may have known a thing or two about the outcome of the Grayscale and SEC lawsuit.”

— Santiment Sanbase Pro (@santimentfeed)

Bitcoin miners sold the pump from Grayscale v. SEC news

In this context, Glassnode also reported a 1-month high for Bitcoin miners‘ outflow volume. An on-chain metric following the amount of BTC leaving addresses that receive the block subsidy reward (known as a ‘coinbase transaction’).

As seen in the chart, the 1-month high was reached on August 29, starting to aggressively increase a few moments before the news (and the price pump), making the new highs of $1,63 million in Bitcoin miners’ outflow volume at the same time the price went up.

BTC Miners’ Outflow Volume (hourly chart, 7d MA). Source: Glassnode
BTC Miners’ Outflow Volume (hourly chart, 7d MA). Source: Glassnode

According to Glassnode, the same metric, measured in Bitcoin units, also reached the 1-month high moments before the price surge. For a total of 55.483 BTC outflowing from Bitcoin miners’ addresses.

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