Early Bitcoin Whale Offloads Final 40K BTC to Galaxy Digital as Market Eyes Next Move
A dormant Bitcoin whale has now transferred the entirety of their 80,000 BTC holdings—worth over $9.5 billion—with the final 40,191 BTC ($4.8 billion) sent to Galaxy Digital on Friday. Galaxy’s wallet balance now stands at 40,288 BTC, with no signs of outbound activity since the last transfer.
The whale, believed to be among Bitcoin’s earliest adopters, began moving funds on July 4 after more than 14 years of silence. Eight separate 10,000 BTC batches were sent to fresh wallets—marking the wallet’s first activity since April 2011.
Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham reports that on Thursday evening, starting at 5:41 p.m. ET, 15 transactions were executed to consolidate BTC from four intermediary wallets into a single Galaxy-linked address. This follows Tuesday’s transfer of 40,010 BTC to Galaxy, which has already begun redistributing coins to Coinbase, Gemini, Bitstamp, and multiple unlabeled wallets—suggesting off-exchange selling, likely through OTC channels.
While moving assets to a trading desk doesn’t guarantee an immediate sale, the shift away from cold storage is often interpreted as preparation to liquidate—especially when involving such a large volume.
The timing is notable, with Bitcoin currently trading above $118,000 and hovering near its all-time high. With Galaxy sitting on tens of thousands of newly received BTC, market participants are closely monitoring any signs of selling pressure or strategic repositioning.
