Bitcoin Whales Sell Billions in 2025 Amid Market Highs and Changing Dynamics
In 2025, Bitcoin whales who had held their assets for over a decade began selling billions of dollars worth of BTC as the cryptocurrency reached new highs. This movement has been described as a "great redistribution" by CryptoQuant's J.A. Maartun. The largest sale involved about 80,000 BTC, worth roughly $9 billion at the time, attributed to a Satoshi-era investor and reported by Galaxy Digital in July 2025.
The sales occurred in three distinct waves: late 2024 to early 2025, July 2025, and November 2025. Demand from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) helped absorb the supply during the first two waves. Despite the massive sales, the market largely absorbed the selling pressure without causing a price crash, supported by ETF demand and buyers such as digital asset treasuries.
Bitcoin's price peaked above $126,000 in October 2025, then traded around $86,000 by mid-December 2025, marking a decline of over 30% from the peak. Reasons cited for the selling include long-term holders cashing out to realize gains and increased interest in digital asset treasuries as a hedging or balance-sheet strategy amid nervous market conditions.
Notably, digital asset treasuries led by companies like Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) became prominent buyers of these whale coins. Some whales transferred their coins to these treasuries to strengthen corporate balance sheets. The emergence of liquidity channels such as ETFs and digital asset treasuries is making the dynamics of Bitcoin's four-year cycle more complex, potentially reducing the cycle's traditional applicability, according to CryptoQuant's Ki Young Ju.
