Crypto Market Drops 3.8% as Whales Chia —Some Buy Billions, Others Withdraw

The cryptocurrency market experienced a slight adjustment, with some major coins witnessing a mild decline amid a broader upward trend.

This decline occurred during significant activity from "whales", revealing different strategies among the largest players in the cryptocurrency market.

Crypto Whales Play Both Sides: Accumulation and Selling

Data from BeInCrypto Markets shows that the broader cryptocurrency market declined by 3.83% in the past 24 hours. Moreover, 7 out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies are in a price decline.

Bitcoin (BTC), the top cryptocurrency, dropped 0.48% in the past day. Ethereum (ETH), Lido Staked ETH (STETH), and TRON (TRX) went against the trend, with TRON recording the highest increase of 3.19%.

Meanwhile, (Micro) Strategy bought during the price drop. The company announced purchasing 21,021 BTC, valued at approximately $2.46 billion. The average purchase price was $117,256 per coin.

This purchase was funded through a $2.5 billion initial public offering of Convertible Class A Preferred Stock (STRC), raising the total BTC held by the company to 628,791 BTC. The company currently has an unrealized profit of $28.18 billion.

"With approximately $2.521 billion from the offering, this is the largest IPO in the US completed in 2025 in terms of total funds raised and the largest listed preferred stock offering on a US exchange since 2009," the company added.

Furthermore, the company's YTD BTC yield is 25%. This purchase aligns with the company's model of using equity and debt capital to enhance BTC reserves, a strategy that has positioned it as a leading institutional investor.

Besides Strategy, Lookonchain emphasized that Anchorage Digital, a digital asset platform and infrastructure provider, has also increased its Bitcoin exposure.

"Anchorage Digital has accumulated 10,141 BTC ($1.19 billion) from multiple wallets in the past 9 hours," Lookonchain posted.

Conversely, the activity of a previously inactive investor suggests a more profit-oriented approach. Lookonchain reported that after 12 years of inactivity, a Bitcoin holder transferred 343 BTC, valued at $40.52 million. Of this, the 'Bitcoin OG' sent 130.77 BTC, worth $15.45 million, to Kraken.

"This OG received 343 BTC (around $29,600 at the time) 12 years ago when BTC was $86. That's a 1,368-fold profit!" the blockchain analysis company revealed.

This small transaction occurred after one of the largest Bitcoin trades in cryptocurrency history. BeInCrypto reported that Galaxy Digital sold over 80,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $9 billion, on behalf of a long-term investor.

The Ethereum market also witnessed contrasting behavior from "whales". A new wallet (0x3dF3) accumulated 12,000 ETH worth over $45 million through Galaxy Digital.

"Since 09/07, a total of 9 new wallets have accumulated 640,646 ETH ($2.43 billion)," Lookonchain wrote.

However, this accumulation was offset by sell-offs. An on-chain analyst noted that Galaxy Digital sent 5,000 ETH valued at $19.28 million to Coinbase, and Cumberland also transferred 10,592 ETH worth around $40.79 million to the same exchange.

Moreover, Fidelity also followed a similar path and sent 12,981 ETH valued at approximately $49.7 million to Coinbase.

"The suspected institutional address HashKey Capital transferred 12,000 ETH to OKX the previous day, and then withdrew 46.16 million USDT from OKX yesterday. In other words, those 12,000 ETH were sold at $3,847," analyst EmberCN added.

Thus, the different strategies of cryptocurrency "whales"—accumulation versus liquidation—reveal variations in risk appetite and market outlook.