Bitcoin Consolidations? Whales Move $860M Worth BTC After Massive ETF Outflows Week

Bitcoin whales were spotted moving some $860 million worth of the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value. This occurred at a time when there were significant outflows from spot BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the past week, according to on-chain data.

Whale Alert, which monitors the movements of some of the crypto market's biggest holders of Bitcoin, revealed the transfers of three BTC whales from Saturday through Sunday night.

The first movement came Saturday, when a Bitcoin whale transferred 3,562 BTC worth around $225.1 million from an unknown digital wallet to another unidentified wallet.

The crypto community on X (formerly Twitter) had varying reactions regarding the transaction. One user said Bitcoin whales were "playing" with other BTC owners. Prominent crypto trader Ash Crypto commented on the move, saying it was a signal that "ETH (Ether – the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain) is pumping hard against Bitcoin." He noted that the "consolidations" of Bitcoin "shows that money is flowing from BTC to ETH."

The biggest move of the weekend was from a whale who transferred 8,000 BTC worth over $511.3 million from an unknown wallet to the crypto exchange Huobi. There were more reactions to the said transfer, with many wanting to know whether the whale was distributing Bitcoins or re-accumulating them.

Quite a couple of users had an interesting theory about the move, saying it could be a whale wanting to try out the Hong Kong ETF market. One user noted that Huobi has an office in Hong Kong. Hong Kong's financial regulator fully approved spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs last week and set the trading day to start on Tuesday.

By Sunday, another whale transferred 1,963 BTC worth over $124.5 million to and from unknown wallets. Commenters under Whale Alert's post regarding the move also had divided thoughts. One user suggested that whales may now be shifting their focus on "alts with potential," while another also said the transfer was related to ETFs.

News about the movement of Bitcoin whales came following a difficult week in the spot Bitcoin ETF subsector. On Thursday alone, spot BTC ETFs saw over $80 million in outflows, as per data from Farside Investors. The critical news was that asset management behemoth BlackRock, whose Bitcoin ETF IBIT enjoyed so much popularity in the first quarter of the year, saw zero inflows for a third consecutive day on Thursday.

Aside from the staggering figures regarding spot Bitcoin ETFs, it is also well worth noting that the world's first decentralized digital asset has struggled to break out of the $63,000 mark throughout the weekend.