Bitcoin whales wakening 🐋

A Bitcoin whale surfaced after nearly 13 years, joining a pod of long-term investors who've started moving funds after years of dormancy.

Author

Stephen Graves
September 12, 2025

📝 What you need to know

A Bitcoin whale resurfaced after almost 13 years Thursday, moving a portion of their $50 million holdings. They join a growing pod of early investors who’ve shuffled funds and cashed out in recent weeks, including one whale who sold over $9 billion worth of the cryptocurrency after holding for 14 years.

Experts told Decrypt that long-term investors may be being asked to donate their coins to newly formed digital asset treasuries. Minnows in the space, meanwhile, are more concerned that whale movements could spook traders, with one analyst noting that “the fear alone can move markets.”

And while Bitcoin’s price appears to be calm on the surface, undercurrents are bubbling away. The cryptocurrency’s hash rate and difficulty broke records Friday, while miners’ holdings spiked to a 90-day high. Hash rate surges post-halving have previously heralded price rallies, with analysts telling Decrypt that Bitcoin is “primed for a decisive upward move.”

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💬 Quote of the Day

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“Considering the double-standards of the previous Chair it’s not surprising that the same agency that fined firms billions for record-keeping failures committed the exact same violations.”

Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal takes aim at former SEC Chair Gary Gensler

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