Galaxy Executes Record $9B Bitcoin Sale for Satoshi-Era Whale

A long-inactive Bitcoin address sold over 80,000 BTC, worth over $9 billion, via Galaxy Digital, marking one of the largest crypto trades on record.
Galaxy confirmed the sale was for a client’s “estate planning” and, despite the massive volume, Bitcoin’s price largely stabilised around US$117K, indicating the sale avoided significant market disruption.
On-chain data shows the dormant wallet reactivated mid-July, moving BTC to Galaxy Digital, which then sent nearly 30,000 BTC to exchanges.

A dormant Bitcoin address linked to an early adopter has liquidated 80.000 BTC through Galaxy Digital, one of the largest notional crypto trades on record. The firm kept the seller’s identity secret, and neither the sale price nor the exact execution date were provided.

The announcement, first made by PR Newswire, followed a Galaxy blog post reiterating the details, with Galaxy confirming the press release but declined to share further information, stating only that the move was part of the client’s “estate planning strategy”.

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Dormant Whales Are Waking Up

On-chain analysts tied the transaction to a wallet that reactivated mid-July, moving over 80.000 BTC on July 16–17, as Crypto News Australia reported. According to data from Lookonchain, the coins were later sent to Galaxy Digital, which then forwarded nearly 30.000 BTC to exchanges throughout Friday, coinciding with a brief dip in BTC’s price below US$115K (AU$174K).

The scale of the operation has fueled speculation over its market impact, though Galaxy has not clarified whether the sale was executed through over-the-counter channels or gradually distributed across venues.

Despite the size, Bitcoin has largely absorbed the move, with prices stabilising around US$117K (AU$177K) over the weekend. It was also a clever choice; routing through Galaxy’s desk, the seller avoided the public-order-book slippage a direct exchange dump would have caused, leaving BTC little changed on the week.