Veteran Bitcoin Whale Sells $76M in BTC to Go Long on Ether

A major Bitcoin whale who has held their coins for more than seven years has shifted part of their billion-dollar fortune into Ethereum, highlighting a growing trend among large crypto holders diversifying beyond Bitcoin.

On Wednesday, the whale sold 670 Bitcoin — valued at $76 million — and used the proceeds to go long on Ether, according to onchain tracker Lookonchain. The trades were spread across four positions totaling 68,130 ETH, with most entered around the $4,300 level. While three of the positions were opened with 10x leverage, a smaller position of 2,449 ETH was placed with 3x leverage.

Before the sale, the whale controlled 14,837 Bitcoin worth over $1.6 billion, most of it accumulated from Binance and HTX exchanges more than seven years ago.

Whale Faces Immediate Risk as Ether Dips

The timing of the trades quickly tested the whale’s conviction. Shortly after the positions were opened, Ether’s price dropped to a low of $4,080, placing three of the leveraged positions into the red and bringing them within $300 of their liquidation points at $3,699, $3,700 and $3,732.

Despite the pressure, Ether has since rebounded, rising 2.9% in the past 24 hours to trade at $4,287, according to CoinGecko. The move came just a week after Bitcoin reached a fresh all-time high of $124,128 on Aug. 14, while Ether approached its own 2021 peak of $4,878.

Institutions Join the ETH Accumulation

The whale’s move is not isolated. Other large players have also been adding Ether during recent volatility. Lookonchain reported that while three whales panic-sold a combined 34,496 ETH during Tuesday’s dip, two institution-linked wallets bought 9,044 ETH each, worth around $38 million.

Publicly traded Bitcoin miner BitMine Immersion Technologies also expanded into Ether, adding 52,475 tokens to its treasury. This brought its total Ether holdings to 1.52 million, valued at $6.6 billion.

Meanwhile, long-dormant Bitcoin wallets have also stirred. A Satoshi-era whale holding 80,201 BTC moved its coins to Galaxy Digital in July after 14 years of inactivity, while another whale shifted 1,042 BTC worth $123 million after six years of silence.