An ethereum whale that bought in during 2022 and 2023 sold 7,323 ETH on August 8, pushing realized losses on the position above $19 million. The same day, a newly created wallet received $87.28 million in bitcoin directly from Galaxy Digital.
The wallet sold 7,323 ETH for roughly $13.96 million on August 8, an exit price of about $1,906 per token that closed out a position built between February 2022 and March 2023 at an average cost of $2,723. That exit price sits close to ether's spot value of about $1,915 this week, a loss of nearly 30% against the original cost basis.
Rather than trading around the position, the wallet staked its ether, holding through two full bear-market cycles before capitulating this week. Trackers put the wallet's total realized losses at more than $19 million once earlier partial sales are counted alongside this week's exit, meaning the staking rewards accrued during the hold fell short of covering the drawdown.
Other Long-Term Holders See Similar Losses
The pattern isn't isolated. A separate whale who bought ether at $4,311 and never sold saw the position cost roughly $23.8 million once finally liquidated. Another ether holder offloaded $136 million in ETH and wstETH as sellers tested the $2,000 level.
Galaxy Digital Shifts $87 Million in Bitcoin
On the same day, Lookonchain tracked a newly created wallet receiving 1,346 BTC, worth $87.28 million, directly from Galaxy Digital. The transfer's size and the wallet's fresh creation are, onchain trackers say, typical of OTC staging rather than a straightforward sale.
Galaxy Digital has repeatedly shown up on both sides of large bitcoin transfers this year. In July alone, the firm moved roughly 2,500 BTC to exchange-related wallets and separately shifted 900 BTC into a freshly created address. Whether this latest transfer represents a client purchase, a custody shuffle, or the start of a larger distribution won't be clear until the receiving wallet's next move shows up onchain.
Source: Bitcoin.com News
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