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Satoshi-Era Whale Sells 9K BTC for Over $1B as Bitcoin Dips Below $117K

Satoshi-era bitcoin whales are closely monitored by traders for market signals, particularly when the BTC in their wallets has not moved for years.

By Jamie Crawley|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Updated Jul 15, 2025, 4:17 p.m. Published Jul 15, 2025, 11:11 a.m.
Whales feeding (Shutterstock)
Bitcoin whales can move markets as they transact in large numbers of BTC. (Shutterstock)

What to know:

  • A whale with over 80,000 BTC sold a chunk of their holdings following bitcoin's ascent to an all-time high around $123,000.
  • The user, who mined the bitcoin stash during the earliest days of cryptocurrency sold 9,000 BTC ($1.05 billion) via Galaxy Digital.
  • Satoshi-era bitcoin whales are closely monitored by traders for market signals, particularly when the BTC in their wallets has not moved for a number of years.

A bitcoin BTC$69,275.38 whale holding more than 80,000 BTC sold a chunk their hoard following bitcoin's ascent to an all-time high around $123,000 on Monday.

The user, who mined the cryptocurrency during the earliest days of the industry — a period known as the Satoshi era after the pseudonymous bitcoin creator — sold 9,000 BTC ($1 billion) via Galaxy Digital, Lookonchain posted on X.

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Users with particularly large amounts of BTC, known as whales, have the ability to move the market when they buy or sell bitcoin because of the substantial number of tokens involved.

Satoshi-era bitcoin whales are closely monitored by traders for market signals, particularly when the BTC in their wallets has not moved for a number of years.

The Satoshi era refers to a loose period of between 2009 and 2011 when bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was active in the community and BTC was generally priced in cents.

The world's largest cryptocurrency fell from Monday's high, dropping below $117,000. Such a slide is quite common following a surge as many users sell coins to bank some profits.

Bitcoin was recently priced just above $117,000, around 4.55% lower than its peak.

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