Like a giant whale creating waves as it surfaces, movements by major bitcoin (BTC) holders, known as crypto whales, often send ripples through the market, fueling speculation about whether big sell-offs might follow.
In the early hours of Friday, two wallets, labeled “12tLs…xj2me” and “1KbrS…AWJYm,” transferred a combined 20,000 BTC — valued at over $2 billion — to newly created blockchain addresses. These transactions were initially detected by blockchain monitoring platform Whale Alert and later reported by Lookonchain.
Both wallets originally received the coins on April 3, 2011, when bitcoin was priced around $0.78. With BTC now trading above $109,000, the holdings have multiplied in value by approximately 140,000 times, giving the owners significant motivation to consider selling.
Indeed, several long-term bitcoin investors have started offloading portions of their holdings since bitcoin surpassed the $100,000 threshold in May.
However, blockchain records indicate the recent transfers went to fresh, non-exchange wallets, which have remained untouched since receiving the funds. So far, there’s no concrete sign that the whales intend to sell.
It’s unclear whether these transfers signal an upcoming liquidation or simply a reshuffling of assets after more than a decade of dormancy.
