A long-dormant Bitcoin whale from the Satoshi era, holding an immense 80,201 BTC, has completed the transfer of their entire stack, valued at approximately $9.6 billion at current prices, to Galaxy Digital. The latest transfer on Thursday saw 40,192 Bitcoin, worth $4.77 billion, moved to the asset manager, following an initial transfer of 40,009 BTC on Tuesday.
Blockchain on-chain data service Onchain Lens was among the first to flag these significant movements. During this period, Nansen, a blockchain intelligence platform, also noted that at least 6,000 Bitcoin (BTC) were sent to crypto exchanges Binance and Bybit, leading to widespread speculation across the crypto community.
Blockchain analytics service Lookonchain had identified this particular whale on July 4, when the holdings were first moved after 14 years of dormancy. The whale originally amassed their Bitcoin in two major deposits: 20,000 BTC on April 2, 2011, and 60,009 BTC on May 4, 2021. Bitcoin recently crossed just over $122,000 on Monday, reaching a new all-time high, which made the whale's full stack worth over $9.7 billion at that time.
Kadan Stadelmann, Chief Technology Officer of Komodo Platform, commented on the transfers, stating that while the whale's motivation remains unconfirmed, they might be looking to "secure jaw-dropping profits" after such a long holding period.
Stadelmann also offered alternative theories: "The whale may simply want stability for their family or plan to start a new venture. Maybe they are going to fund off-grid projects that align with the self-reliance vision of Bitcoin." He also speculated that the whale might harbor "mixed feelings" about Bitcoin's increasing institutional adoption, regulatory pressures, and integration into the traditional financial system, given its "original crypto-anarchist ethos."
While some of the whale's deposits to Galaxy Digital have subsequently been sent to crypto exchanges, igniting fears of a major sell-off, Stadelmann cautions against jumping to conclusions. He suggests that this doesn't necessarily mean the entire stash will be liquidated.
"The whale could be doing 'housekeeping toward a more secure wallet strategy,' or rethinking how they hodl," Stadelmann explained. "The whale could be investing in a new Bitcoin venture, and leveraging their BTC to do so. They could also be using Galaxy as an intermediary to distribute BTC to smaller wallets."
Adding to the speculation, pseudonymous crypto trader Marty Party suggested in an X post on Thursday that Galaxy Digital itself might have acquired the Bitcoin. "IMO: They bought all 80k, sold some and will hold some, and use the proceeds to benefit their businesses. Well played. The 80k is off the market," he stated.
In related news, Bitcoin's anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, has theoretically climbed to become the 11th richest person in the world after Bitcoin surpassed $120,000 on Sunday. Nakamoto is widely believed to hold approximately 1.096 million Bitcoin across thousands of wallets, an untouched fortune now valued at over $131 billion, which would place them among the top echelons of Forbes' richest billionaires list.
July 2025, Cryptoniteuae