The cryptocurrency sector is changing not only as adoption grows but also as some participants exit the market. And as traditional finance enters the space in a big way, a long-time BTC holder since 2011 has just liquidated their holdings for $1.3 billion.
A Long-Time Bitcoin Whale Sells All Its BTC
The year 2025 will certainly go down in Bitcoin history as the period during which it definitively shifted into the realm of traditional finance. The reasons: a highly popular U.S. spot ETF market, as well as massive accumulation in a multitude of publicly traded Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs).
This situation does not necessarily benefit retail investors, who were largely sidelined during the last bull market as institutional investors gained an increasingly dominant foothold. And needless to say, the current drop in the BTC price below $85,000 does nothing to help matters.
It is against this particular backdrop that a long-time Bitcoin holder has just decided to sell all of his BTC, which he had held firmly since 2011. The portfolio, which initially consisted of approximately 11,000 BTC, now holds only $0.53, according to data from the on-chain monitoring site Arkham Intelligence.
A long-time Bitcoin whale sells all of his BTC purchased in 2011
Owen Gunden was an OG Bitcoin whale who had held BTC since 2011. Since late October, he has sold 11,000 BTC worth $1.3 billion. He has just transferred $230 million worth of BTC to Kraken, marking his final sale.
Arkham Intelligence
A $1.3 Billion “Generational Transfer”
According to information published by Arkham Intelligence, this large-scale operation reportedly began in late October with an initial series of transfers involving significant amounts of BTC leaving a decade-old wallet.
These transfers quickly revealed the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken as their primary destination, suggesting that this historic “whale” was preparing to sell its BTC at a profit that can only be described as extraordinary, given that the sale price ranged between $90,000 and $110,000.
In fact, in early 2011, BTC was trading at around $1, before reaching an annual high of nearly $30 in June. Based on that latter price, Owen Gunden has just realized an exceptional capital gain of over 300,000%.
Owen Gunden had accumulated these BTC through arbitrage trades between the Mt. Gox and Tradehill platforms, at a time when very few exchanges allowed users to buy Bitcoin.
Their current resale raises many questions, the most common of which concerns what some are calling a “generational transfer,” as long-time BTC holders jump ship while institutional funds begin pouring in en masse.
