The Bitcoin network has just recorded a new on-chain volume record due to a massive movement of BTC by a leading US crypto exchange.
In a span of an hour, Bittrex moved about $9 billion in BTC, according to the crypto data and analysis firm Glassnode.
“This $8.9 billion spike in on–chain volume was caused by Bittrex moving a large amount of Bitcoin several times – a series of 21 transactions within one hour, each moving ~56,000 BTC.”
Each transaction fee cost about 0.00011760, which is approximately $0.87. This means that in total, Bittrex moved the massive amount of BTC for just over $18.
Bittrex hasn’t released a statement on why it moved the huge stockpile of Bitcoin, but did announce a period of scheduled maintenance on Thursday.
#Bittrex Customers: https://t.co/vWO7SITe5n will be offline on December 5 for scheduled maintenance which will result in downtime starting at 11:00 AM PT and may last until 12:00 PM PT. Find out what this means for you: https://t.co/B6llnkBOYK pic.twitter.com/drAPV3kAjY
— Bittrex (@BittrexExchange) December 4, 2019
Crypto exchanges routinely move funds around for security upgrades and in order to transfer assets between internet-connected “hot” wallets and disconnected “cold” wallets.
Although large Bitcoin transfers can sometimes trigger alarm among crypto traders, official and premeditated crypto movements triggered by exchanges are not likely to affect the markets.