An anonymous bitcoin whale reportedly bought $150 million worth of the cryptocurrency during its recent price crash

• An anonymous bitcoin holder bought more than $150 million during the digital currency's recent plunge, The Independent reported.
• The third-largest holder of bitcoin now has about $6 billion of the cryptocurrency.

A big holder of bitcoin scooped up millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency during its recent crash that pushed the price down by nearly 30% to below $50,000, The Independent reported Wednesday.

The third-largest holder of bitcoin bought more than $150 million of the digital currency, scooping up more than 3,000 bitcoins over the past couple of days, the report said, citing data from BitInfoCharts, a blockchain monitoring service.

The anonymous bitcoin holder's portfolio stood at around $5.9 billion with the new purchases. The holder's crypto address first shows activity in February 2019, when bitcoin traded in the $3,000 range and the holder has logged a profit gain of about $3.4 billion.

Bitcoin during Wednesday's session was up 3% at $50,815. Its price on Saturday crashed by about 27% and slid under $42,000 as part of a broader crypto-market crash. Analysts said the selloff was driven by a mix of concerns including the new Omicron coronavirus variant and increased chances the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy.

Analysts also said the crash was exacerbated by market structure, with many traders using derivatives and borrowed money.