After seven years of inactivity, a Bitcoin [BTC] OG holder moved 2,931 BTC, valued at about $188.03 million, to a new wallet in a recent on-chain development.
That said, this Bitcoin whale had not touched its holdings since the 23rd of October 2018. At that time, the leading cryptocurrency was trading close to $6,475.
This means at the current price, the value must have increased by nearly 10x. Needless to say, such large transfers from long-dormant wallets often indicate that the owner is getting ready to sell some or all of the holdings and realize significant profits.
However, a wallet transfer by itself does not prove a sale. This occurred after Bitcoin had dropped 1.36% over the previous day to $62,939.94 at the time of writing.
Are investors selling at a loss or profit?
However, the SOPR was near 1, indicating that the market as a whole is only making small gains instead of the aggressive profit-taking that usually occurs at cycle tops.
Interestingly, the SOPR remained close to 1 even back in October 2018, suggesting that coins were being spent near their purchase price.
However, the market environment has entirely changed from a bear market in 2018 to a mature cycle in 2026. While early adopters still hold significant unrealized gains, the general market no longer exhibits the excessive profit-taking behavior.
Bitcoin accumulation is strong
At the same time, Santiment’s supply distribution suggested that retail and small investors were the main drivers of Bitcoin accumulation between April and July 2026. During this time, wallets holding between 0.1 and 100 BTC steadily grew their balances.
The accumulation of the 1,000–10,000 BTC cohort also suggests that some institutions and big whales are still purchasing.
On the other hand, wallets with 100–1,000 BTC steadily decreased their holdings, whereas the 10,000–100,000 BTC cohort experienced abrupt balance changes that most likely reflected transfers between custodians or exchanges rather than outright sales.
Bitcoin is resilient
The fact that Bitcoin rallied by over 6% in late June and early July while remaining well above the $60,000 support level further demonstrated its tenacity.
This strength coincided with oil prices rising more than 5% toward the $75 resistance level as macro uncertainty returned after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran ceasefire.
Historically, cryptocurrency market corrections have frequently followed increases in oil prices.
Nonetheless, the fact that Bitcoin has managed to sustain its upward trajectory despite these macro challenges raises the possibility that the market is growing more resilient to fear fueled by macro factors.
Final Summary
- After seven years, an early bitcoin whale moved nearly 3K BTC to a new wallet.
- This whale movement happened when Bitcoin was trading around $63k and the SOPR was at 1.