Redditors: Dogecoin’s $2 billion ‘whale’ might be Robinhood
There’s a prime suspect as to the identity of the owner of the world’s biggest Dogecoin cryptocurrency wallet and it’s a name that should be familiar: Robinhood Markets.
The timing of the creation of the initial digital wallet used for storage in June 2018 tracks with Robinhood’s offering Dogecoin trading to its customers in July of that year. That’s according to blockchain data tracker Elliptic and echoed by online sleuths on Reddit’s Dogecoin forum.
“It almost certainly belongs to Robinhood,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder of Elliptic. “The timings of its creation, and the creation of the addresses that it received funds from, match the timings of Robinhood’s support of Dogecoin.”
Dogecoin has surged more than 950% since the beginning of the year from less than half a penny to more than five cents per coin as Reddit users have flocked to the cryptocurrency based on the meme of a smiling Shiba Inu.
The owner of the wallet, which controls nearly 29% of Dogecoin in circulation, became a subject of attention after Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted that “too much concentration” is the cryptocurrency’s only real issue before saying he’d pay the biggest holders to “void their accounts.”
If major Dogecoin holders sell most of their coins, it will get my full support. Too much concentration is the only real issue imo.
Musk tweeted his suspicion Tuesday that Robinhood could be the biggest holder then later supported calls for Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev to explain the broker’s previous decisions to curb trading in GameStop Corp. shares and Dogecoin during January’s market mania.
As attention ramped up Wednesday around who was the owner of the largest Dogecoin wallet, Robinhood tweeted that it would not confirm what addresses belong to them.
We are not alone. Just like other crypto platforms, for operational security reasons and to protect customer privacy, we will not confirm which addresses do or do not belong to us.
