A Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale has reawakened after 14 years of dormancy, potentially looking to sell more than $4 billion worth of BTC.
The major cryptocurrency holder has 80,000 Bitcoin (BTC) in their stash. The whale transferred 40,010 BTC worth over $4.6 billion on Monday, of which 28,600 BTC were subsequently transferred to Galaxy Digital, data from blockchain intelligence platform Nansen shows.
On Tuesday, a remaining 10,200 BTC worth $1.2 billion was transferred to Galaxy Digital, bringing the total value moved in the past two days to $4.6 billion at the time of writing.
According to onchain analyst EmberCN, these movements to Galaxy Digital may signal that the whale intends to offload a significant chunk of their stash.
Cryptocurrency traders often look to whale transaction patterns to gauge institutional Bitcoin demand and short-term price action, due to the potentially market-moving amount of capital these entities hold.
This Satoshi-era whale has held onto their Bitcoin stash since 2011, when BTC was trading below $30. The savvy investor has realized a more than 2.4 million percent increase over the past 14 years, TradingView data shows.
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The whale’s multibillion-dollar transactions come at an interesting time. They began a day after Bitcoin flipped Amazon’s $2.3 trillion market capitalization to become the world’s fifth-largest asset by total valuation. Bitcoin’s price rose to a new all-time high of $122,600 on Monday, Cointelegraph reported.
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Bitcoin investors say ‘Crypto Week’ has driven price uptick
This Satoshia-era whale may be looking to sell, but some investors say Bitcoin’s price pump hasn’t ended yet.
According to Iliya Kalchev, dispatch analyst at digital asset platform Nexo, this latest price surge has in part been driven by “Crypto Week,” a highly anticipated event in Washington during which legislators are hoping to pass three key crypto bills in hopes of boosting the national industry.
Kalchev told Cointelegraph:
The rally is supported by strong ETF inflows, long-term holder demand, and rising expectations of a favorable policy shift in Washington.
“President Trump’s endorsement of these efforts has further reinforced sentiment,” the analyst said, adding that the three bills may provide more clarity for stablecoin issuance, custody and digital asset infrastructure.
Crypto Week is currently underway. If legislators pass these key bills, it could bring Bitcoin to even higher highs, and prompt more whales to offload their bags.
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