Bitcoin Whales Exit, Institutions Drive Market Maturity

While many Bitcoin whales “woke up” in the last month to sell their BTC at big profits as it rallied over $122,000, analysts say it is a good sign of a maturing market and doesn’t hurt the value of Bitcoin. 

In an X post on Wednesday, Bitcoin financial services company Swan Bitcoin said the largest rotation in Bitcoin (BTC) history is almost complete as the “old guard are being replaced by new titans with conviction,” such as corporations and treasury firms.

Earlier in the month, a whale from the Satoshi era unloaded their entire stack of 80,201 Bitcoin, worth $9.6 billion, across several transactions. 

At one point, during the transfers, the price dipped 4% as the sale was “digested,” but it didn’t last long, according to Bitcoin researcher Vijay Boyapati.

Meanwhile, market data analytics firm CryptoQuant agreed that the recent Bitcoin sell-off came from new whales realizing gains, causing Bitcoin to fail to hold above the $120,000 mark.

Crypto analyst Willy Woo said in June that whales with more than 10,000 Bitcoin have been steadily selling since 2017, in answer to a question about who has been selling amid heightened interest from institutions.

Whale sales are good for Bitcoin, says hedge fund co-founder

Speaking to Cointelegraph, ZX Squared Capital co-founder and chief investment officer CK Zheng said whales selling off isn’t a negative, because new buyers are jumping in, which shows a “healthy dynamic of a new bull market.” 

Crypto data research platform Santiment said on Thursday that wallets with between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin bought up another 218,570 coins since late March, adding 0.9% of all coins to their wallets during this time frame.

Bitcoin entities hold almost half a trillion in BTC

Zheng said that institutional players entering the space as the OGs exit is the “natural evolution of the system” and creates a form of order.  

Crypto treasuries, in particular, have proven popular with firms trying to get exposure to Bitcoin. 

There are 219 entities that combined hold 3.6 million Bitcoin, worth over $419 billion, according to Bitbo data. This includes exchange-traded funds, countries, public and private companies, Bitcoin mining companies and DeFi. 

“I think because now you have the corporate treasury, the Bitcoin treasury, which is kind of institutional order, and then the ETF market, they play a…