Analysis: Whales accumulate BTC via privacy transactions

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju shared on X that whales are accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) through privacy transactions. CoinJoin transactions, an anonymization strategy that protects BTC users' privacy by mixing transactions, have tripled in annual average over the past two years. While some link this rise to hackers laundering stolen funds, Chainalysis reports total hacking losses this year at $2.2 billion, just 0.5% of BTC's $377 billion in realized cap inflows. In 2024, 1.55 million BTC flowed into accumulation addresses tied to ETFs, MicroStrategy and custodial wallets, as whales used privacy transactions to transfer funds to institutional investors.