Quick breakdown
- An eight-year-old Bitcoin whale sold another $136M in BTC after previously dumping $4B for Ether in August.
- The ETH-to-BTC ratio remains weak, putting the whale at a paper loss if switching back to Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin faces strong resistance at $116K, while other long-dormant wallets are also becoming active.
$4B whale returns to market
A long-term Bitcoin holder who offloaded more than $4 billion worth of BTC for Ether in August is back selling again. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that two wallets tied to the whale moved 1,176 BTC valued at around $136 million into the Hyperliquid exchange on Sunday before beginning to sell.
After a two-week break, the #BitcoinOG who exchanged 35,991 $BTC($4.04B) for 886,371 $ETH($4.07B) is back to selling $BTC!
2 wallets linked to this #BitcoinOG have deposited 1,176 $BTC($136.2M) to Hyperliquid in the past 2 hours and started dumping.https://t.co/LTiJHW049j pic.twitter.com/L0m2bEG1J7
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 14, 2025
Lookonchain said the wallet had previously taken a two-week pause after exchanging nearly 36,000 BTC for ETH late last month, a shift that caught market attention due to its scale.
ETH-to-BTC trade turns risky
Lookonchain posted on X on September 1 that the Bitcoin whale it was tracking over the previous two weeks had sold 35,991 BTC, worth over $4 billion at the time, for Ether.
While the investor’s move into Ether signaled confidence in the altcoin, the ETH-to-BTC ratio has shown little change. At today’s levels, the whale would face an unrealized loss of nearly 460 BTC (about $53 million) if the ETH were converted back to Bitcoin.
Bitcoin hits resistance
Bitcoin has been struggling to break through the $116,000 level, a price it briefly touched on Friday after three weeks of sideways movement. Over the past 24 hours, BTC has hovered between $115,000 and $116,182, holding flat at $115,500.
The top cryptocurrency is still down 7% from its mid-August peak of $124,000, according to Tradingview data.
Other dormant whales reactivate
The selling spree isn’t isolated. A wallet containing 445 BTC, untouched for nearly 13 years, recently moved part of its stash to Kraken. Earlier in September, another wallet with about 480 BTC made its first transactions since 2012, although those appeared to be internal transfers rather than sales.
Meanwhile, Bitcoiner Willy Woo linked Bitcoin’s sluggish price momentum this cycle to early investors cashing out. Willy Woo warns that it now requires over $110,000 in new capital to absorb every Bitcoin sold by these long-time holders.
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