Bitcoin whale moves another $1.1 billion of BTC and resumes ETH purchases

A Bitcoin whale that recently became active after seven years of dormancy, and then bought $2.5 billion worth of Ethereum, moved another $1.1 billion of BTC on Friday and then resumed buying ETH, according to onchain data.

"A whale holding over $5 billion of BTC is currently buying ETH," Arkham Intelligence posted to X on Friday. "He just moved $1.1 billion of BTC to a new wallet and has started purchasing ETH through Hyperunit/HL. This whale bought $2.5 billion of ETH last week, and he’s still buying."

Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain is also tracking the Bitcoin whale's transactions.

"The Bitcoin OG who bought 641,508 ETH ($2.94 billion) is back," the firm posted to X. "After a two-day break from buying ETH, he just deposited another 1,000 BTC ($108.27 million) to Hyperliquid, selling it and buying ETH spot."

The cryptocurrency market appears to have been, at least partly, influenced by billions of dollars rotating from BTC to ETH, with the price of bitcoin down 8% over the last month as compared to ether, which is up by 14%. Additionally, interest in spot Ethereum-based ETFs has surged. U.S. ETH ETFs look as they are about to post $4 billion in net inflows for August, which would be their second-largest monthly haul.

As of 12:35 p.m. ET, bitcoin was changing hands at $108,702.57 and Ethereum at $4,341.20, according to The Block's price data.

Whale wakes up

Last week, Lookonchain noted that a whale wallet, after seven years of inactivity, rotated part of its 100,784 BTC to buy 62,914 ETH and establish a 135,265 ETH derivatives long position.

Kronos Research CIO Vincent Liu told The Block that wallets associated with the Bitcoin whale swapping BTC for ETH may not be a single holder.

"It's more likely the work of multiple whales or an exchange with significant holdings, rather than a single entity," Liu said earlier this week. "Large-scale transactions like this often involve institutional players or coordinated actions."