A Bitcoin whale sold again after a $4B BTC-to-ETH swap, sending 1,176 BTC to Hyperliquid as Bitcoin hovers near $116K.
The infamous “Bitcoin OG” whale has come back to the market after a short pause. On-chain analysts show that wallets tied to the investor deposited 1,176 BTC, worth about $136 million, into Hyperliquid.
This move came just two weeks after the same whale sold 35,991 BTC, worth over $4 billion, for Ether.
Whale swaps Bitcoin for Ether
The whale first started making waves in August, when they rotated a massive Bitcoin stash into Ether.
Data from Lookonchain showed that between August 20 and September 1, the investor exchanged nearly 36,000 BTC for 886,371 ETH.
The value of the trades was around $4 billion.
After a two-week break, the #BitcoinOG who exchanged 35,991 $BTC($4.04B) for 886,371 $ETH($4.07B) is back to selling $BTC!
2 wallets linked to this #BitcoinOG have deposited 1,176 $BTC($136.2M) to Hyperliquid in the past 2 hours and started dumping.https://t.co/LTiJHW049j pic.twitter.com/L0m2bEG1J7
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 14, 2025
At the time, the selling trend came at just the right time, around the general market inflows into the Ethereum space Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of $750 million in August, while Ethereum ETFs enjoyed inflows of nearly $4 billion.
The timing indicated that institutional and whale money were shifting toward Ethereum.
However, even after the rotation, the whale still holds about 49,634 BTC across several wallets. This stash is worth more than $5 billion.
Bitcoin struggles at $116,000
Bitcoin hit $116,000 last week for the first time in nearly a month, but has not managed to push much higher.
Over the past 24 hours, it has traded between $115,000 and $116,182, and is staying flat as traders watch for a breakout.
BTC is currently down about 7% from its recent high of $124,000, which it reached on August 14. Market watchers believe the whale’s fresh wave of selling could make it harder for Bitcoin to regain upward strength in the short term.
ETH/BTC ratio and market flows
The whale’s Bitcoin-to-Ether trade came at an interesting moment for the ETH/BTC ratio. The ratio had been falling since last year, and bottomed at 0.018 in April.
That drop followed trade tensions linked to U.S. tariff announcements.
Since then, Ethereum has staged a strong recovery against Bitcoin. The ETH/BTC ratio climbed about 117% from April 21, and hit 0.043 in late August before easing back to 0.039.
The whale’s rotation may have played a role in that rebound, and is adding fuel to Ethereum’s rally.
Currently, the ratio remains well below its 2017 peak of 0.14 but is showing signs of steady improvement.
Dormant Bitcoin wallets wake up.
The recent whale activity is part of a broader trend of old wallets coming back online. Last week, a wallet containing 445 BTC worth over $50 million moved coins for the first time in 13 years.
Earlier this month, another wallet holding nearly 480 BTC also became active after more than a decade.
In July, Galaxy Digital moved over 80,000 BTC worth $9 billion for a Satoshi-era investor’s estate planning needs. The transfer stood as one of the largest movements of dormant Bitcoin in years.
JUST IN: Galaxy Digital announced it executed one of the largest notional bitcoin transactions in history, selling over 80,000 bitcoin worth more than $9 billion 🤯 pic.twitter.com/NtrRo2OqG7
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) July 25, 2025
These events show that long-term holders, some inactive for over a decade, are becoming more active as Bitcoin trades near new highs