Whale moves $1.17 billion in BTC out of Coinbase as U.S. inflation soars

Did an institution just invest $1.17 billion in bitcoin (BTC)? It sure looks so judging by three crypto transactions moving massive amounts of BTC from a wallet held by Coinbase Pro, to an anonymous bitcoin wallet. The three transactions were detected by the popular crypto tracking service Whale Alert and announced in a series of tweets.

According to Whale Alert, over the past 10 hours, several substantial chunks of Bitcoin, each transferring close to 10,000 BTC, have been withdrawn from the publicly traded U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase, specifically Coinbase Pro. The total amount of bitcoin transferred to the anonymous wallet comprises over $1.17 billion.

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 9,867 #BTC (391,721,155 USD) transferred from #Coinbase to unknown wallethttps://t.co/AI5yos1rPr

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) March 11, 2022

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 9,901 #BTC (393,077,696 USD) transferred from #Coinbase to unknown wallethttps://t.co/1OoPwliWF9

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) March 11, 2022

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 9,843 #BTC (390,782,938 USD) transferred from #Coinbase to unknown wallethttps://t.co/uYSlIeugzF

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) March 11, 2022

In total, the three transactions add up to 29,611 BTC, an equivalent of $1,17 billion at the moment of writing.

Though probably unrelated, the alert of the BTC transaction out of Coinbase Pro comes at the same time as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the highest inflation rate in The U.S. since 1982.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.8% in February on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.6% in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased by 7.9% before seasonal adjustment.

Increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter, and food were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase. The gasoline index rose 6.6% in February and accounted for almost a third of the all items monthly increase; other energy component indexes were mixed. The food index rose 1.0% as the food at home index rose 1.4%; both were the largest monthly increases since April 2020.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5% in February following a 0.6-% increase the prior month. The shelter index was by far the biggest factor in the increase, with a broad set of indexes also contributing, including those for recreation, household furnishings and operations, motor vehicle insurance, personal care, and airline fares.

The all items index rose 7.9% for the 12 months ending February. The 12-month increase has been steadily rising and is now the largest since the period ending January 1982. The all items less food and energy index rose 6.4%, the largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982. The energy index rose 25.6% over the last year, and the food index increased 7.9%, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending July 1981.