Bitcoin sees unprecedented reawakening of inactive whales

In 2025, a record number of old whale wallets moved their coins. One of the big shifts came from wallets aged over 7 years. 

The series of price peaks for BTC invited old whale wallets to move their coins. A record number of old BTC whales moved coins in 2025. The transfers originated from wallets aged over 7 years, with the occasional transaction from wallets dated 2013 or even 2010.

Most of the moves came from OG whales, including notorious hack wallets and former exchanges. One of the biggest transfers was for 80K BTC after 14 years of holding, from a still-unidentified whale. 

Most recently, a whale from the Satoshi mining era sold more of their remaining coins. The whale’s wallets held up to 8K BTC, and are down to 3,850 coins after sending 150 BTC to exchanges. 

Some of the coins moved went to exchanges, but in 2025, there were more ways to tap the value of BTC. Older whales found themselves sitting on what looked like hefty treasuries, and some went on to support treasury companies. For others, lending was a way to tap the value of BTC without selling directly. 

BTC absorbed most of the whale selling

In 2025, the BTC market was robust enough to absorb the whale selling. However, the occasional short-term selling of large amounts of BTC is pushing the price downward. Some of the sellers combine spot trading with derivative positions, attempting to pressure the price of BTC while also going short. 

The rise of perp DEX trading in 2025 also helped activate whale wallets. Some of the OG whales moved older coins to make use of derivative markets, instead of realizing profits on spot markets. 

Over 50% of BTC is still held by individuals

Of the BTC accounted for, over 50% is still held in wallets belonging to private individuals. On-chain investigators have identified the current treasuries, miner reserves, exchange wallets, custodial and ETF wallets. 

A total estimated 53.48% of BTC wallets are held by private individuals, of which around 170K wallets have been tagged and tracked. 

For smaller holders, there are also significant shifts in accumulation and trading. In the past year, over 2.41M new shrimp wallets started buying, with under 1 BTC. 

The category of ‘shark wallets’ with 100 to 1,000 BTC was also growing fast. In the past year, 3,461 new shark wallets were generated. In total, 14 of the biggest whale wallets with over 10K BTC were split, while 20 whale wallets with 1K-10K BTC also moved their coins. 

Despite the lower number of whales, large-scale wallets are showing they are still capable of controlling the market. Newer whale wallets are trading more actively. On the other hand, the accumulated 1M BTC in treasuries has almost no direct impact on the market, which can be swayed with a relatively low transfers of active coins.

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