Crypto
Dormant Whale Sells Bitcoin Worth $111M, Price Crosses $80K
A dormant Bitcoin whale has sold after four years, adding to growing evidence that long-term holders are beginning to take profits.
3h ago 4,280
BLOCKINSIDERLoadingA dormant Bitcoin whale has sold after four years, adding to growing evidence that long-term holders are beginning to take profits.
A wallet frozen in time for four years just woke up. What triggered it was Bitcoin's push above $80,000 earlier today. The holder had stayed silent through crashes, rallies, and a record high.
Now, with profits doubling, patience has finally given way to a sizable sale. The move adds to a broader wave of long-dormant supply hitting the market this week.
On-chain tracker Lookonchain, flagged a dormant whale that received 2,200 BTC worth $99.05 million back in 2022. The average entry price then was just $45,024 per coin, a steep discount to today.
The wallet stayed untouched through Bitcoin's entire cycle since. It held firm even as BTC rocketed to a $126,000 all-time high last year.
That discipline appears to have run its course this week. Following Bitcoin's latest surge, the whale decided the moment was right. It sold 1,400 BTC, worth over $111.61 million, banking approximately 2x gains.
At current prices, the remaining 800 BTC in the wallet is still worth well over $63 million, leaving a sizable stake yet untouched.
Whales are not the only ones taking profits. Long-term holders are following the same script. Addresses that bought BTC over a year ago have offloaded more than 242,000 BTC in the past month.
That supply is worth well above $19.19 billion at current prices. The selling has trimmed long-term holder balances down to 14.76 million BTC.
Much of the credit goes to the sheer scale of unrealized gains sitting across the network right now. Percent Supply in Profit jumped sharply over the past week, reaching 64.39%, up from just 51%.
The current reading now sits well above its statistical high band. That signals unusually widespread profitability across the circulating supply. This elevated level reflects a real shift in market sentiment. It has visibly increased the latent incentive for holders to realize gains before momentum potentially fades or reverses in the weeks ahead.
Historically, readings this high have coincided with local market tops, though not always immediately. Analysts note the metric alone rarely times an exact peak, but it does flag rising sell-side risk.
Profits are showing up at the institutional level too. Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin treasury, has swung firmly into the black. In just one week, Michael Saylor's company saw its BTC holdings move from $9.5 billion in unrealized losses to $4.7 billion in unrealized profits.
Selling from Strategy's stack remains unlikely given its long-held thesis. Still, the swing captures exactly why whales and older holders are selling.
Bitcoin itself crossed the $80,000 mark earlier today before easing back to trade around $79,253 at last check. Momentum remains strong, but overhead supply from long-term holders is clearly testing it.
The next major resistance sits at $82,116, a level that would need to be broken for the rally to extend meaningfully further. On the downside, $74,541 stands as the next major support.
Bulls will want to defend that level firmly if profit-taking accelerates from here, especially with so much supply now sitting in profit and actively eyeing the exit door.
Thus, the coming weeks will likely witness a surge in selling from the whales as well as institutions as BTC price rises.
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