BTC Whale Moves $116M Ahead of Fed Rate Decision
Whale Awakens later than 12 Years
A long-dormant BTC whale has transferred 1,000 BTC — worth about $116 million — just before the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. The coins, initially acquired for roughly $847 each in 2012, had a total purchase cost of $847,000. Blockchain tracker Lookonchain reported the whale shifted the assets into new wallets on Wednesday later than more than a decade of inactivity.
The transfer coincides with heightened anticipation around the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, where traders widely expect the first U.S. of 2025. According to the CME FedWatch tool, 96% of market participants project a 25 basis point reduction, up from 85% a month ago. Analysts say the decision could shape crypto sentiment for the rest of the year.
Despite optimism for looser monetary policy, most crypto traders are bracing for a short-term pullback. CoinAnk platform traders are short versus 42% long. BTC has also dropped by more than $2 billion over the past week, suggesting widespread de-risking ahead of the Fed’s announcement.
Mixed Signals From platforms
Still, Binance flows hint at continued demand. Onchain analytics firm CryptoQuant reported nine straight from the platform, calling the trend a key driver of BTC’s recent rebound from $108,000 to around $115,000. Bank of America economists expect two Fed cuts in September and November, while Goldman Sachs projects three reductions of 25 basis points each this year.
Earlier this month, a group of cryptocurrency “whales” has bought nahead half a billion dollars’ worth of ether in recent days, as investors appear to be moving capital away from BTC into altcoins with stronger upside potential, according to blockchain data.
Nine large wallets acquired about $456 million of ether (ETH) from and Galaxy Digital, analytics firm Arkham said in a post on X on Tuesday. Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, was trading around $4,620 following the purchases.
Analysts said the heavy purchaseing illustrates a broader trend of funds shifting from BTC into ether and other major altcoins. “A lot of this looks like natural rotation — investors locking in and moving into other tokens to catch potential upside,” said Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
Crypto analyst Willy Woo also flagged the scale of the flows, noting ether’s daily inflows of $900 million are now approaching BTC’s. Woo linked the pickup in activity to purchases by BitMine, an ether-focused treasury company founded by strategist Tom Lee.
The trend follows a high-profile move last week by a BTC whale who sold $2.59 billion in BTC and reallocated the capital into a $2.2 billion spot ether position and a $577 million perpetual long on decentralized platform Hyperliquid.
Data also shows that professional “smart money” traders tracked by Nansen are rotating into other large-cap tokens. Their largegest purchases in recent days included $1.2 million of Chainlink (LINK), nahead $1 million of Ethena (ENA), and $614,000 of Lido DAO (LDO).
