Citigroup weighs issuing stablecoin to expand digital payment capabilities: Reuters

After peaking at a new all-time high of over $122,800 earlier this week, Bitcoin has undergone a correction, driven by macroeconomic pressures and profit-taking.

In fact, an old Bitcoin whale from the Satoshi era has also started moving its holdings, exacerbating sell-off fears. Still, experts argue that Bitcoin’s ability to weather such transfers without significant price disruption highlights its maturation as a highly liquid asset.

Can Bitcoin Withstand Satoshi-Era Whale Transfers?

In a recent post on X, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain revealed that the whale who held 80,009 Bitcoins valued at approximately $9.46 billion, transferred 40,009 BTC, worth about $4.68 billion, to Galaxy Digital, adding to its trend of earlier transfers.

Furthermore, Galaxy Digital then deposited 6,000 BTC, worth $706 million, directly into two major cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Bybit. This indicated that the firm is likely preparing to sell these assets.

Nonetheless, the activity revealed a great deal about Bitcoin’s liquidity. A market watcher, Vijay Boyapati, stressed that the volume rivaled Germany’s Bitcoin sales from the previous year. Despite this, the market absorbed the pressure with only a modest decline.

In a separate post, Boyapati stated that the transfers should not be viewed as a cause of concern. Instead, it marks an important step in the process of monetization.

This shift from a few large holders to a broader group is a sign that Bitcoin is increasingly becoming a widely recognized form of money.

Furthermore, Bloomberg’s ETF analyst James Seyffart also weighed in. He noted that the transfers exemplify how substantial capital is now required to move Bitcoin’s price significantly, both upwards and downwards, further reinforcing its growing maturity.

Many industry leaders echoed this sentiment, highlighting the maturation of the current Bitcoin cycle.

Meanwhile, Shawn Young, Chief Analyst at MEXC Research, explained to BeInCrypto that the movement of such long-held assets usually indicates a major shift in macroeconomic sentiment. He elaborated that the transfers follow a coordinated OTC strategy, typical of institutional investors.

Young revealed that most of the funds are moving through brokerage-linked wallets and custodial structures. This suggests a reallocation rather than market dumping.

The analyst added that the main question is not the whale’s identity, but the strategy behind the move. If the assets hit exchanges, it could cause short-term supply pressure. If they remain in custodial setups, it may signal long-term planning for asset protection or regulatory shifts.

Whether Bitcoin will drop or remain resilient amid these transfers remains uncertain. For now, the largest cryptocurrency trades just 3.7% below its record peak.

BeInCrypto data showed that at press time, BTC’s trading price was $118,251, up 1.08% over the past day.

At least $21.8 billion in illicit or high-risk crypto has flowed through crosschain swaps, up from $7 billion in 2023, according to estimates by UK-based blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. Elliptic attributes 12% of those movements to North Korea.

Crosschain swaps were once a niche activity reserved for advanced traders and decentralized finance (DeFi) users, but they’ve evolved into a core component of money laundering. Illicit actors no longer simply send crypto through mixers or dump tokens on a single decentralized exchange (DEX). Nowadays, the funds move around multiple blockchains to frustrate investigators and evade detection.

This swift 211% increase, from $7 billion to $21.8 billion, reflects the growing use of blockchain bridges, DEXs and coin swap services, as well as the expanding number of blockchains.

“When you look back, let’s say a decade ago, the primary cryptocurrencies and blockchains out there were Bitcoin and Ethereum and a few others,” Arda Akaturna, Elliptic’s APAC lead crypto threat researcher, told Cointelegraph.

“It’s an increasingly multichain ecosystem... that just widens the available assets and the available obfuscation channels open to criminals.”

The Bitcoin price has slipped under $117,000 as on-chain data shows the network has observed one of its largest profit realization days of the year.

Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Did The Major Share Of Profit-Taking

In a new post on X, the on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has talked about the latest trend in the Bitcoin Realized Profit indicator for the short-term holders and long-term holders. The “Realized Profit” measures, as its name suggests, the total amount of profit that the BTC investors are realizing through their transactions.

The metric works by going through the transfer history of each coin being sold to see what price it was moved at prior to this. The difference between that previous price and the current selling price denote the amount of profit or loss involved in the sale.

Naturally, the sale realizes a gain if the difference is positive. The Realized Profit adds up this value involved in all transactions of the type occurring on the blockchain. Another indicator known as the Realized Loss keeps track of the sales of the opposite type.

In the context of the current discussion, the Realized Profit of two specific segments of the sector is of interest: short-term holders (STHs) and long-term holders (LTHs). Investors are divided into these groups based on the basis of holding time. More particularly, holders who have been carrying their coins for 155 days or less are put in the STHs and those who have made it past this threshold are considered LTHs.

Below is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows the trend in the Realized Profit for the two sides of the Bitcoin market.

As displayed in the graph, the Bitcoin Realized Profit has seen spikes for both of these groups during the last 24 hours, implying investors across the market have harvested gains taking advantage of the rally to the new all-time high (ATH) above $123,000.

In total, the holders took profits equal to $3.5 billion inside this window, making the profit-taking event one of the largest for the year. Interestingly, the LTHs occupied for a higher share ($1.96 billion or 56%) of the profit realization than the STHs ($1.54 billion or 44%).

Generally, the longer an investor holds onto their coins, the less likely they become to sell them. As such, the LTHs with their relatively long holding time are considered to represent the resolute side of the market.

Despite their strong resolve, however, it seems the latest Bitcoin price surge provided a temptation strong enough for even these diamond hands to be swayed. The result of the selloff has so far appeared to be a price decline to levels below $117,000.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $116,700, up over 7% in the last week.