80,000 BTC ancient whale transfer linked to collapsed MyBitcoin exchange from 2011

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju stated that Galaxy Digital’s 80,000 BTC transaction is linked to the collapsed exchange MyBitcoin, which shut down in 2011.

Last week, Galaxy Digital issued a press release saying the firm executed one of the largest Bitcoin transactions ever. Galaxy Digital helped an anonymous client sell 80,000 BTC, equivalent to $9 billion, describing him as a “Satoshi-era investor” in their release.

However, Ju believes this anonymous client is Tom Williams, the founder of MyBitcoin exchange. He wrote on X, “It seems Galaxy Digital bought the #Bitcoin from them, but I’m not sure if they did any forensics.”

The recent transfer of 80,000 BTC, dormant for 14 years, came from wallets originally hosted by MyBitcoin.

The wallets had been inactive since April 2011, before MyBitcoin collapsed in a hack that July. It likely belongs to the hacker or the anonymous founder known as Tom… pic.twitter.com/Gj8R7xw0SA

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) July 25, 2025

MyBitcoin lost 78,000 BTC in 2011

MyBitcoin was an exchange founded in 2010 by an anonymous person known as Tom Williams. According to the Internet Archive, the exchange shut down unexpectedly in August 2011, disappearing with tens of thousands of BTC.

At that time, MyBitcoin held 154,406 BTC in its custody. Williams said around 51% of that—equivalent to 78,747 BTC—went missing. That figure is pretty close to Galaxy Digital’s recent “largest notional bitcoin transactions.” 

A user named Mbzastava from the archived page of BetaBeat wrote in August 9, 2011, “There is no proof that MyBitCoin themselves did not perpetrate the hack and theft of bitcoins. It was very obvious to me upon the inception of MyBitCoin.com that the premise was to construct a bitcoin ‘honeypot.’”

On July 4, Cryptopolitan reported that a whale moved 80,000 BTC from eight connected wallets within a day. At the time, it was unclear whether the whale was upgrading its wallet addresses or selling the Bitcoins.

Arkham Intelligence data showed the anonymous whale had held the coins for 14 years, dating back to around April or May of 2011. Three months later, MyBitcoin shut down—closely aligning the on-chain data with the historical timeline.

Galaxy Digital published the press release as an OP_RETURN and attached it to an irrelevant transaction on the blockchain. OP_RETURN is an operation in Bitcoin’s scripting language that allows users to add text to a transaction.

The firm said in the release that the $9 billion transaction was “part of the investor’s broader estate planning strategy.” The transaction either took place by handing over private keys or during the July 4 on-chain movement. The firm’s head of research said the 80,000 Bitcoin transaction had no blockchain breadcrumbs. 

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital, executed the sale and did not provide further information on X or during his recent appearance on CNBC.

KEY Difference Wire helps crypto brands break through and dominate headlines fast