One of the Crypto market’s most notable long-term holders has made a rare move — selling Bitcoin to buy Ether.
According to on-chain data from Lookonchain, a veteran whale offloaded 670 BTC worth $76 million on Wednesday to fund a leveraged long position in Ethereum.
The sale marks a shift in behavior for the whale, who has held Bitcoin since acquiring thousands of coins more than seven years ago through exchanges like Binance and HTX.
Whale Loads Up on ETH
The move saw the whale open four separate ETH long positions totaling 68,130 tokens.
Three of the positions were placed on 10x leverage, while a smaller allocation of 2,449 ETH was taken on 3x leverage.
The entry price hovered around $4,300 per ETH, putting the trades at risk after Ethereum dropped to $4,080 shortly afterward.
At those levels, three of the leveraged positions were only around $300 above their liquidation thresholds at $3,699, $3,700, and $3,732.
ETH Market Volatility
Despite the dip, Ether has since recovered slightly, climbing 2.9% over the last 24 hours to trade near $4,287.
The timing of the whale’s bet came just days after Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $124,128 and Ethereum briefly approached its own 2021 peak of $4,878.
Institutional activity has also played a role, with several large wallets tied to funds adding ETH during recent pullbacks.
Institutions Accumulate Ether
Lookonchain noted that while some whales panic-sold during market weakness, two institution-linked wallets accumulated more than 9,000 ETH each, worth around $38 million apiece.
Meanwhile, BitMine Immersion Technologies, a publicly traded Bitcoin miner, expanded its treasury by 52,475 ETH, bringing its total holdings to 1.52 million tokens valued at $6.6 billion.
Old Bitcoin Whales Stirring
The ETH pivot follows movement from other long-dormant Bitcoin whales in recent weeks.
A “Satoshi-era” whale holding over 80,000 BTC began transferring coins to Galaxy Digital after 14 years of inactivity, completing its shift on July 16.
Another smaller whale, dormant for six years, moved 1,042 BTC worth $123 million to a new wallet the same day.
Crypto analyst Willy Woo recently said whales with more than 10,000 BTC have been gradually selling since 2017.
While such sales may seem concerning, analysts argue they are part of a natural market cycle as new institutional buyers step in.
A Maturing Market
Despite the risks around leveraged positions, the whale’s ETH bet reflects growing confidence in Ethereum’s long-term role in the market.
It also underscores how veteran Bitcoiners are diversifying into other digital assets after years of holding BTC exclusively.
As analysts suggest, these shifts are not necessarily bearish signals but rather signs of a maturing market where capital rotates into different sectors of the crypto economy.