Several Bitcoin whales—investors who hold large amounts of the cryptocurrency — have recently started cashing out after leaving their Bitcoin untouched for more than a decade.
Last week, one anonymous whale sold 80,000 Bitcoin for a whopping $9.5 billion. A user on X (formerly Twitter) first flagged the massive transaction, which was later reported by Tom’s Hardware. The seller had originally purchased the Bitcoin in 2011 for just $54,000, netting a staggering return of more than 17 million percent.
And they’re not the only one cashing in on Bitcoin’s all-time high.
Tom’s Hardware also reported that another long-time Bitcoin holder—rumored to be early crypto evangelist Roger Ver—sold off his stash for a massive profit. The seller allegedly bought 80,000 BTC in 2014 for around $210,000. Last week, they sold it for over $8.6 billion, making a roughly 4 million percent profit.
Additionally, earlier this month, two Bitcoin wallets that had been inactive for 14 years suddenly moved 10,000 BTC each to new addresses. Back in 2011, that amount of Bitcoin would’ve cost just $16,000, now, they’re worth roughly $1 billion.
These recent transactions prove that the cryptocurrency investment strategy known as HODL—an acronym which stands for hold on for dear life—can pay huge dividends.
These moves come as the Trump administration has taken a notably pro-crypto stance. His supportive policies have helped fuel, in part, Bitcoin’s recent rally to an all-time high of $123,000 on July 14. Since then, the price has dipped slightly, sitting at $119,273 as of Thursday.
Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, introducing loose, industry-friendly regulations for stablecoins — cryptocurrencies tied to assets like the U.S. dollar. At the bill’s signing ceremony, Trump was unusually candid about his ties to the crypto community, telling them, “I got you guys out of so much trouble.”
Trump’s Justice Department has also dropped investigations into Jesse Powell, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, as well as the crypto futures betting platform Polymarket.
In March, Trump signed an executive order establishing a federal strategic Bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile. He also named David Sacks, former PayPal COO, as the White House AI & Crypto Czar.
Along with his pro-crypto policies, Trump has also made a fortune (on paper) for himself with crypto. Most of his net worth now comes from crypto, according to an analysis from Forbes. And just yesterday, Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social and the streaming platform Truth+, announced that it bought $2 billion worth of Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related securities.
(Disclosure: Trump Media sued Gizmodo along with 19 other media outlets in 2023, claiming that they inaccurately reported financial data about the company. That litigation is pending.)