In 2017, a lot of newcomers became crypto enthusiasts because of the incredible bullrun bitcoin had near the end of the year. This news made headlines all over the world, introducing a whole new market to a lot of people. For many, it was just about making money, but a lot stayed throughout the bear market because of the technology behind it.

A recent report by Bloomberg have found that this bullrun may have been caused by a single whale who could apparently manipulate the price causing more people to buy in.

John Griffin, a University of Texas professor, and Amin Shams of Ohio State University have recently updated their paper from 2018 with their findings on the matter. They believe that it was not the work of multiple exchanges, but of one whale:

“Our results suggest instead of thousands of investors moving the price of Bitcoin, it’s just one large one,” Griffin said. “Years from now, people will be surprised to learn investors handed over billions to people they didn’t know and who faced little oversight.”

The pair are known for publishing a previous paper about how Tether printing was linked to the BTC price surge, but now with their new research they believe the price action was coming from one exchange, Bitfinex, and one account. This account can be linked to BTC rising and causing a ripple effect on other exchanges.

Previously, Tether rejected the claims of printing as General Counsel Stuart Hoegner stated that the paper is “foundationally flawed” because it is based on an insufficient data set.”