One of the Biggest Bitcoin Whales in History Just Cashed Out $9 Billion

Institutional crypto firm Galaxy said Friday that it had sold more than 80,000 Bitcoin—over $9.3 billion worth at the current price—for a Satoshi-era investor.

In a Friday statement, Galaxy said “it was one of the largest notional Bitcoin transactions in the history of crypto on behalf of a client.” The firm further described the sale as “one of the earliest and most significant exits from the digital asset market.”

A mysterious Bitcoin whale woke up at the start of this month, moving 80,000 BTC after holding the coins for 14 years, baffling crypto analysts. 

Blockchain analyst JA_Maartun told Decrypt on Friday that those movements were from the same investor who used Galaxy to sell the coins. He shared blockchain data to show that the same coins had been moved to Galaxy’s addresses. 

Galaxy refused to comment further or answer Decrypt‘s questions. 

Blockchain firm CryptoQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, wrote on X that the coins had come from an early Bitcoin wallet service, MyBitcoin.com, which shut down in 2011 following a hack. He added that Galaxy likely bought the coins off the owner. 

A Bitcoin whale is usually defined by an entity that holds 1,000 BTC—worth $117 million at today’s prices—or more. 

Experts have previously told Decrypt that although difficult to tell, whales are not always individual investors but also companies that got involved in mining crypto early. 

When whales wake up, selling pressure sometimes follows as investors expect the entity to start cashing in on their stash. 

Despite Friday’s huge sale, the price of Bitcoin has dipped by just 1% over the past day and remains unmoved over a seven-day period, according to CoinGecko. The leading cryptocurrency was recently trading for $117,274—nearly 5% below its all-time high of $122,838.

Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional details after publication.