Bitcoin Whale Offloads 24,000 BTC Triggering Sharp Market Drop

Highlights:

• A Bitcoin whale sold 24,000 BTC, which triggered a rapid price drop.
• Whale moved $3.3 billion into Ether purchases and staking.
• Analyst Willy Woo says old Bitcoin whales holding cheap coins slow new capital price growth.

A single large Bitcoin transaction sent shockwaves through the crypto market. On Sunday, one whale offloaded 24,000 BTC, valued at $2.7 billion, triggering a rapid $4,000 drop in Bitcoin’s price within minutes. Even after this huge sale, the whale retains 152,874 BTC, valued at more than $17 billion.

Jacob King, CEO of WhaleWire, revealed screenshots indicating the wallet “19D5J…WoZ1C” executed several sizable Bitcoin transactions. The transfers ranged from 3,000 BTC to 6,000 BTC and were sent to different addresses between August 16 and August 24. King explained on X that the whale’s selling triggered a cascade of panic among other traders, who also began selling, which amplified the market crash. He explained that a large portion of the capital was shifted into Ethereum, with $2 billion used to buy ETH and $1.3 billion put into staking.

JUST IN: #Bitcoin flash crash today, which wiped out $310M in long positions, has been traced to a SINGLE Bitcoin whale dumping BTC for ETH.

The whale sold 24,000+ BTC, including coins that hadn’t moved in 5+ years, sending 12,000+ #BTC today alone to the Hyperunite trading… pic.twitter.com/h5jEt92Sys

— Jacob King (@JacobKinge) August 24, 2025

The flash crash caused Bitcoin to drop nearly 2.2%, falling from $114,666 at 7:31 pm UTC to $112,546 within nine minutes. It then hit a low of $112,174 at 8:16 pm UTC, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum also fell nearly 4%, sliding from $4,937 down to $4,738 in that timeframe. Both BTC and ETH later recovered roughly half of the losses from the flash crash.

Bitcoin Faces Resistance as Whales Sell, Experts See Market Maturing

Bitcoin has gained 2.41% in the past 24 hours and is now trading around $113,169, according to CoinGecko. Alex Krüger, crypto trader and Aike Capital founder, noted that upward movement may become easier once short-term momentum eases and prices rise above $113,500–$114,000. 

Thanks for playing. Here's the liquidation on BTC the market had been trying to get last week. Triggered by people rotating out of BTC into ETH and SOL.

Should be much easier to go up once short-term momentum clears and price moves above 113.5-114. Below the starting point of… pic.twitter.com/y96tOYCEBn

— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) August 24, 2025

Some experts believe the recent sell-off reflects market maturation rather than signaling a bearish trend. “The price has stalled because a number of whales have hit their magic number and are unloading”, Vijay Boyapati, software engineer and crypto-economics expert, wrote on X. He mentioned that these whales have begun offloading their cryptocurrency assets.

Investors Move Bitcoin to Ethereum

In recent weeks, several large investors have been moving some of their Bitcoin holdings into Ethereum. Last Friday, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that a whale wallet converted part of its 100,784 BTC into 62,914 ETH and also opened a 135,265 ETH derivatives long position. A similar pattern has appeared with institutional investors in spot exchange-traded funds, where Ethereum ETFs have seen larger inflows compared to the smaller movements in Bitcoin ETFs during August.

A Bitcoin OG who received 100,784 $BTC($642M) 7 years ago ended his dormancy recently— selling $BTC while buying 62,914 $ETH ($267M) spot and opening a massive 135,265 $ETH($577M) long position.

We just spotted another Bitcoin OG depositing $BTC into #Hyperliquid to sell and buy… pic.twitter.com/qhebN276Lf

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 22, 2025

Old Bitcoin Whales Slowing Price Growth, Says Willy Woo

Bitcoin’s price is moving slowly this cycle, and it may be because the oldest whales are holding most coins, says analyst Willy Woo. He explained that it now takes over $110,000 of new money to buy each BTC they sell. Woo noted that many of these whales repurchased their Bitcoin in 2011 for about $10 or less. He also said that the difference between their cheap purchase price, how much they own, and how fast they sell makes it harder for new money to raise Bitcoin’s price.

Why is BTC moving up so slowly this cycle?

BTC supply is concentrated around OG whales who peaked their holdings in 2011 (orange and dark orange).

They bought their BTC at $10 or lower. It takes $110k+ of new capital to absorb each BTC they sell. pic.twitter.com/7CbWXsvX2l

— Willy Woo (@woonomic) August 24, 2025