Conflicting reports have emerged regarding significant Bitcoin (BTC) movements, creating a debate over whether they signal strategic accumulation by whales or are merely routine exchange operations. On one side, data from on-chain analytics firm OnchainLens indicated a whale withdrew 800 BTC (worth approximately $71 million) from the Bitfinex exchange within 24 hours. This was part of a larger pattern where the same entity accumulated about 1,000 BTC over six days, valued at over $89 million. Furthermore, two newly created wallets withdrew an additional 1,600 BTC (roughly $144 million) from Binance, suggesting a coordinated accumulation effort.
Analysts interpreting this data argue that moving such large sums from centralized exchanges to private wallets signals a long-term holding mindset, reduces immediate selling pressure, and tightens liquid supply. This activity, occurring as Bitcoin held around $89,500 (up 2% in 24 hours), was seen as a sign of institutional confidence and a potential precursor to a rally, positioning for market shifts.
However, this narrative has been challenged by research from CryptoQuant. Julio Moreno, head of research at the firm, stated that the popular "whale accumulation" narrative is misleading. He explained that much of the data is distorted by exchange-related activity, where exchanges consolidate funds from many smaller wallets into fewer large ones for operational and regulatory reasons. This process artificially inflates the number of large wallets, leading trackers to misclassify it as whale buying.
"When these exchange-related distortions are filtered out, the data shows that large holders are still distributing Bitcoin rather than accumulating it," Moreno said. As a result, overall whale balances and holdings among addresses with 100 to 1,000 BTC continue to decline, a trend potentially linked to ongoing outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Amid this debate, a separate positive signal was noted by Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck. He pointed out that Bitcoin's long-term holders have become net accumulators over the past 30 days, following their largest selling event since 2019. This shift suggests a significant source of recent selling pressure may be easing. Bitcoin's price was trading slightly above $90,000, having avoided a retest of its November lows below $80,000.
