Wintermute confronted scrutiny for 2 current occasions: dumping Bitcoin onto Binance throughout New 12 months’s Eve’s skinny liquidity, then scrambling to build up cash in what gave the impression to be pressing shopping for forward of the Fed announcement on Jan. 2.
The claims paint an image of coordinated manipulation: promote into weak point, purchase again cheaper. On-chain information helps the primary accusation, however not the second.
The proof comes from blockchain transaction information, not from change order books. Each circulation analyzed entails addresses labeled by Arkham as belonging to Wintermute on one facet and Binance sizzling wallets on the opposite.
This system captures custody transfers between the market maker and the change however reveals nothing about what occurs inside Binance’s matching engine. A Bitcoin deposit might set off speedy market promote orders or sit idle as stock.
The blockchain information motion, not intent.
On-chain information confirms the Dec. 31 dump
On Dec. 31, 2025, Wintermute moved 1,518.6 BTC to Binance whereas withdrawing solely 305.5 BTC, a web deposit of 1,213 BTC, price roughly $107 million on the day’s costs close to $88,000.
The timing concentrated throughout historically low-liquidity home windows.
The most important transfers hit at 06:43 UTC (148.5 BTC) and 18:10 UTC (443 BTC), hours when Western markets sleep, and Asian buying and selling desks wind down. Bitcoin dropped from $92,000 on Dec. 30 to interrupt beneath $90,000 on Dec. 31, bottoming close to $91,500 that night.
Wintermute’s heaviest deposits bracket the intraday low.
The sample persevered past New 12 months’s Eve. On Jan. 1, 2026, Wintermute pushed one other 1,559.2 BTC to Binance whereas pulling 935.1 BTC again, a web deposit of 624 BTC, roughly $55 million.
On Jan. 2, the circulation continued: 1,631.7 BTC deposited, 814.4 BTC withdrawn, for a web 817 BTC transferring onto the change. Over three consecutive days, Wintermute deposited 2,654 BTC to Binance and withdrew 2,055 BTC, leaving roughly 600 BTC on the change’s infrastructure.
This directional circulation helps the dumping accusation in uncooked magnitude and timing.
Wintermute moved substantial Bitcoin onto Binance exactly when liquidity thins and worth strain amplifies. Whether or not the agency executed speedy gross sales or staged stock for gradual distribution stays unknowable from blockchain information alone.
But, the custody transfers themselves set up clear promoting strain throughout weak market circumstances.
Accumulation thesis debunked
The second accusation that Wintermute urgently collected Bitcoin on Jan. 2 collapses beneath scrutiny of the identical on-chain information.
Throughout 14 transaction datasets spanning 05:15 to 17:55 UTC on Jan. 2, Wintermute acquired 2,091.8 BTC from exterior counterparties (together with WBTC on Ethereum) and despatched out 2,509.7 BTC.
The agency ended the day with 418 BTC, down from its begin. That represents web distribution, not accumulation.
The hourly breakdown reveals basic two-sided market-making fairly than directional shopping for. Wintermute confirmed web inflows throughout early-morning classes and once more round 09:00 and 13:00-14:00 UTC, totaling roughly 590 BTC in constructive circulation.
However these accumulation home windows bought swamped by web outflows concentrated at 10:00, 15:00, and into 17:00 UTC, the place mixed distributions exceeded 1,000 BTC. The cumulative place traced a sawtooth sample, consisting of alternate shopping for and promoting, that ended properly beneath zero.
Pressing accumulation produces a steep upward ramp, and Wintermute’s Jan. 2 exercise produced the other.
Counterparty evaluation reinforces this interpretation. Wintermute pulled BTC from Gate, Crypto.com, Bullish, Bitfinex, KuCoin, and Bybit, exchanges that reported web inflows.
Nevertheless, Binance alone absorbed 933 BTC of web deposits from Wintermute that day, dwarfing the inflows from different venues.
When netted throughout all tagged change addresses within the datasets, Wintermute’s CEX flows landed nearly flat, with solely single-digit BTC web motion. The majority of the 418 BTC discount got here from outflows to unlabeled addresses not clearly recognized as exchanges or DeFi protocols.
The gross turnover of 4,600 BTC paperwork intense buying and selling exercise. But, turnover measures velocity, not route. A market maker rotating stock throughout venues to seize spreads generates equivalent quantity signatures to a dealer accumulating a place.
The excellence lies in web flows. Wintermute’s Jan. 2 web flows level unambiguously towards distribution fairly than accumulation.
What on-chain information can and can’t show
Three constraints restrict the conclusions that may be drawn from blockchain information.
First, the datasets seize solely addresses labeled as Wintermute or particular exchanges, and exercise involving untagged wallets disappears from view.
Second, on-chain transfers timestamp custody adjustments, not trades. A BTC deposit on Dec. 31 might stay untraded for days or execute immediately. The blockchain can’t distinguish.
Third, the evaluation excludes exercise on different networks and artificial BTC merchandise. Hedges by means of CME futures, perpetual swaps on offshore exchanges, or BTC-collateralized debt positions wouldn’t seem in spot BTC or WBTC transaction logs.
Inside these constraints, the info establishes clear details. Wintermute deposited substantial Bitcoin to Binance throughout year-end low-liquidity durations, with continued web deposits by means of Jan. 2.
That directional circulation aligns with promoting strain throughout weak market circumstances.
The timing, scale, and persistence throughout three consecutive days help the Dec. 31 dumping accusation, although orderbook information can be required to substantiate precise execution.
The Jan. 2 shopping for accusation finds no help in the identical information. Wintermute ended that buying and selling session with 418 BTC lower than it began, demonstrating a web discount fairly than accumulation.
The agency turned over a large quantity however completed lighter on Bitcoin, not heavier, a habits in line with lively market-making.
Transaction patterns present stock rotation throughout venues, not panic shopping for.
The hole between blockchain transparency and orderbook opacity creates house for competing narratives. On-chain information proves Wintermute moved massive Bitcoin positions onto exchanges throughout burdened market circumstances.
Whether or not that constitutes manipulation or market-making is dependent upon execution methods invisible to blockchain observers.
The Dec. 31 flows warrant scrutiny, whereas the Jan. 2 flows don’t help the buildup narrative.
