In the crypto world, a ** "whale" ** is a colloquial term that refers to ** individuals, institutions, or entities that have large amounts of a cryptocurrency **, enough to significantly influence its price or the market in general.

key characteristics of crypto whales:

1. ** Great economic power **:

have massive amounts of crypto assets (e.g., billions of dollars in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other currencies).

Example: Addresses containing ** 10,000 BTC ** (≈ $ 600 million at the current price) are considered Bitcoin whales.

2. ** Influence in the market **:

its ** purchase/sale operations can cause volatility **. For example, if a whale sells a large volume, the price usually falls ("*dumping*").

In cryptocurrencies with low liquidity (such as small altcoins), a single whale can manipulate the price easily.

3. ** Types of whales **:

** Institutions **: Investment funds (e.g., grayscale), companies (such as Microstrategy).

** Exchange **: platforms such as Binance or Coinbase, which guard funds from millions of users.

** Founders or Early Adopters **: Such as Satoshi Nakamoto (supposed owner of 1 million BTC) or Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum co-founder).

** Anonymous investors **: Addresses with huge funds whose identity is unknown.

Why are they relevant?

** Managing risk **: They can create "pump and dump" (inflate and sell).

** Trust indicators **: If the whales accumulate, it is usually interpreted as a bullish signal.

** Centralization **: contradict the decentralized philosophy of crypto, since they concentrate much of the supply.

concrete data:

in bitcoin, ** ~ 2,000 addresses ** (0.01!^ Of the total) control ** ~ 40!^ Of the circulating supply **.

In 2023, a sale of 30,000 BTC by a whale dropped the price 5!^ Within hours.

Tools to track them:

** Blockchain Explorers **: Such as [bitinfocharts] (https://bitinfocharts.com/) or [Etherscan] (https://etherscan.io/) to see address balances.

** Real-time alerts **: Platforms such as [Whale Alert] (https://whalealert.io/) NOTIFY LARGE TRANSACTIONS.

In summary: whales are ** powerful actors ** that can alter the crypto market with their movements, being a key factor in its dynamics of supply and demand. 🐋💰 #Write2Earn #Whale.Alert #BTC☀️ #viralmypost