- Long-term Bitcoin whales realized $1.2 billion in profit by selling their BTC holdings over the past two weeks, according to on-chain data from CryptoQuant.
- This profit-taking by old whales is unprecedented and nearly doubles the previous record set in April 2022 when they realized $683 million in profits in a single day.
- The sell-off by whales could exacerbate the current bearish momentum in crypto markets, which has already seen Bitcoin’s price drop by 66% compared to last week.
Decrypt recently reported that long-term Bitcoin whales are now cashing out their BTC, realizing $1.2 billion in profit over the past two weeks according to on-chain data provider CryptoQuant. This selling activity from whales who have held Bitcoin for years is unprecedented.
Whales Cashing Out at High Prices
According to CryptoQuant’s Head of Research Julio Moreno, in US dollar terms, this profit-taking is unprecedented. He said the only comparable time was when Bitcoin traded at $40,000 in April 2022 and old whales took $68.3 million profits in one day. In Bitcoin terms, realized profits then were higher at 17,000 BTC versus this month’s 14,000 BTC profits.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju claimed much of these sales have likely taken place through brokers, meaning the sell-side liquidity hasn’t hit the market yet. Brokers may deposit BTC to exchanges, impacting the market, he warned.
Impact on Market
A sell-off in whale holdings would exacerbate the crypto market’s bearish momentum in recent weeks, which has taken Bitcoin down 66% compared to last week. That’s in addition to $300 million outflows from Bitcoin ETFs in the last two days and an environment where Bitcoin mining firms are selling their coins to stay afloat.
Granted, CryptoQuant’s old whale dashboard doesn’t tell the whole story. When looking at all Bitcoin whales, the cohort is continuing to accumulate coins, just at a slower rate than March of this year. Similarly, stablecoins are also still rising in market cap but at a slower pace.
Overlap with Bitcoin ETFs
Moreno also noted that there could be some overlap between the old whales who are realizing profits and the Bitcoin ETF outflows. From an on-chain analysis perspective, a long-term holder is anyone who has held their coins for over 155 days, slightly longer than the ETFs have now been live. However, as this selling was related to long-term whales, it would only include a small fraction of ETFs’ Bitcoin holdings, he clarified.
Additionally, there was no large selling from ETFs the day that long-term holder whales sold on June 5.
Conclusion
The increased selling activity from long-term Bitcoin whales is notable and could exacerbate downward price action, especially if their holdings hit exchanges. However, Bitcoin whales are still accumulating overall, just at a slower pace. It remains to be seen how much impact this whale profit-taking ultimately has on the market.
