A prominent crypto "whale" recently triggered a significant ripple effect across the digital asset market, leading to a sharp decline in Bitcoin's price while simultaneously fueling a massive surge in Ethereum purchases and record-breaking trading volumes on a decentralized exchange. This strategic repositioning by a long-term investor highlights the concentrated influence large holders can exert on market dynamics.
Whale's Strategic Shift and Bitcoin's Dip
An early Bitcoin investor, holding over 100,000 BTC for seven years, executed a monumental portfolio rotation, depositing nearly 23,000 BTC—valued at approximately $2.6 billion—onto the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. This substantial sell-off initiated a nearly 3% dip in Bitcoin's price, pushing it to its lowest point in over a month at around $111,600 and erasing recent gains. Following the BTC divestment, the whale strategically deployed $2.2 billion to acquire roughly 473,000 ETH, concurrently establishing significant long positions. The investor has since partially profited from these ETH longs, netting $33 million, with proceeds reinvested into additional Ethereum spot buys.
Hyperliquid's Record Surge
The aggressive trading activity generated by this whale's move propelled Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual exchange, to unprecedented levels. The platform recorded a historic $3.4 billion in spot trading volume within 24 hours, positioning it as the second-largest venue globally for Bitcoin spot trading and outperforming combined volumes of major centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Bybit for BTC spot. This surge in activity also translated into substantial revenue for Hyperliquid, generating over $4.7 million in trading fees in a single day, a portion of which was used for buybacks of its native HYPE token.
