Bitcoin Rebounds After Galaxy Executes $9B Whale Sale as Part of Estate Planning

Bitcoin regained ground on Friday after briefly dipping below $115,000 overnight, bouncing back into its familiar two-week trading range. At last check, BTC was changing hands near $117,200 — still down 1.2% over the past 24 hours.

The early sell-off appeared to coincide with significant BTC transfers to exchanges by Galaxy, prompting speculation around the long-dormant “Satoshi-era” wallets that moved nearly 80,000 BTC — worth around $9 billion — earlier this month.

Later in the day, Galaxy confirmed it had executed the full sale of the 80,000 BTC on behalf of a client, calling it “one of the largest notional bitcoin transactions in the history of crypto.” The firm said the transaction was part of the investor’s estate planning strategy.

The bitcoin held in the associated wallets had remained untouched for over a decade, dating back to the early years of the network. The coordinated move to liquidate the stash, while initially weighing on the market, is now viewed by some analysts as a potentially bullish turning point.

Analysts Eye Recovery After Whale Event Clears

With the selling pressure from the long-dormant whale now resolved, market sentiment is beginning to stabilize. Some analysts believe Bitcoin may have already established a local bottom or is close to doing so.

John Glover, Chief Investment Officer at crypto lender Ledn, said in a Friday note that BTC could bottom out by the weekend before resuming its uptrend. Using Elliott Wave analysis, Glover projected a rally toward $132,000 in the next major move.

“Once completed — either today or over the weekend — I expect we will finish wave iii by rallying to circa $132,000,” Glover wrote.

With a major source of supply now behind the market, traders are watching closely to see if Bitcoin can reclaim momentum and test new highs in the coming weeks.