Early Bitcoin Whale Shifts $4.8B to Galaxy Digital, Possibly Setting Up Major Liquidation

Dormant Whale Moves Final 40K BTC to Galaxy Digital, Sparking Market Watch

A legendary Bitcoin whale has completed the transfer of their full 80,000 BTC trove—worth over $9.5 billion—with the final 40,191 BTC ($4.8 billion) landing in Galaxy Digital’s wallet on Friday. The wallet now holds 40,288 BTC, with no outgoing transactions recorded since the move.

The whale, whose holdings date back to Bitcoin’s earliest days, reemerged on July 4 after more than a decade of inactivity. Over the past two weeks, they moved eight batches of 10,000 BTC to fresh addresses—marking their first activity since April 2011.

According to Arkham Intelligence, the final tranche was sent in 15 transactions Thursday evening, beginning at 5:41 p.m. ET. The coins were consolidated from four separate wallets into a Galaxy-tagged address before the transfer.

Earlier this week, 40,010 BTC were sent to Galaxy, which has already begun distributing some of the funds to Coinbase, Bitstamp, Gemini, and several unidentified wallets. While the transfers don’t confirm a sale, such activity often precedes offloading via over-the-counter (OTC) desks.

Whales typically store large holdings in cold wallets. So the shift to a trading desk raises speculation of a planned liquidation—especially as Bitcoin trades just above $118,000, near its all-time high.

Traders are watching closely, as any sale from this historic stash could add significant liquidity—and volatility—to the market.