Mr. 100 Bitcoins Unmasked

A mysterious address has been generating buzz for several months due to its recurring purchases in batches of 100 bitcoins.

Mr. 100 Bitcoins

“Mr. 100” refers to the bitcoin address “1Ay8v” which holds a balance of 53,205 BTC. Currently, only 13 addresses hold more bitcoins.

According to information from the account @HODL15Capital, Mr. 100 has been shopping since November 2022 (before the FTX collapse).

The individual responsible for these transfers remains silent, leading to widespread speculation about who is behind this bitcoin address. These speculations are interesting in that they may reveal where demand could come from in the coming months.

It has been variously suggested that it could be:

1. Accumulation by Hong Kong tycoons in anticipation of Bitcoin ETF approvals,
2. The Qatari sovereign fund (475 billion dollars in assets under management),
3. Another Middle Eastern sovereign fund (Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, etc),
4. The Upbit exchange,
5. A Singaporean billionaire,
6. Jeff Bezos.

This Saturday, the blockchain analytics firm Arkham revealed that this address most likely belongs to Upbit. Located in South Korea, Upbit is the country’s leading exchange in terms of volumes.

Who is Mr. 100?

Mr. 100 is a BTC address that receives 100 BTC at a time.

Many have speculated that Mr. 100 is buying BTC – as a large fund, Middle Eastern nation, or even a Bitcoin ETF.

We believe these assertions are incorrect – ‘Mr. 100’ is in fact an Upbit Cold Wallet. pic.twitter.com/92KMljoZ6e

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) March 16, 2024

Arkham justified this by highlighting the strong and regular links of the address with other addresses known to belong to Upbit. This would therefore be a case of internal transfers within the exchange.

Indeed, Mr. 100’s address mainly receives bitcoins from the consolidation of funds on Upbit deposit addresses. Furthermore, Arkham notes that a portion of its outbound flows contribute to funding Upbit’s hot wallets that facilitate client withdrawals.

We will have to wait a little longer to see Jeff Bezos or the Qatar sovereign fund embracing bitcoin.