Cryptocurrency markets plummeted late Sunday night after a long-dormant Bitcoin whale launched a massive sell-off.
Crypto Markets Crashed: $2.7 Billion Bitcoin Sale Sparks Panic
According to Onchain data, the owner of a wallet associated with a large withdrawal from the HTX exchange in 2019 dumped approximately 24,000 BTC, or $2.7 billion worth of Bitcoin, in a matter of days.
This whale, inactive for five years, used the proceeds from the sale to aggressively buy Ethereum (ETH). He quickly amassed over 400,000 ETH and used it to open leveraged long positions and stake. However, the selling pressure wasn’t solely driven by this whale.
The dovish tone of US Federal Reserve (FED) Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole meeting last week initially lifted the markets.
Following Powell’s remarks, Ethereum surged over 10% and XRP over 5%. However, investors became increasingly skeptical towards the end of the week about whether a September interest rate cut was a certainty.
Analysts say Powell’s statements generated short-term enthusiasm but didn’t include a clear commitment to cut interest rates. According to CME FedWatch data, the probability of a rate cut is priced at 87%, while on Polymarket, it’s priced at 81%.
As a result, by Monday morning, the total crypto market capitalization had shed $80 billion, falling below $4 trillion. Furthermore, more than $715 million in leveraged positions were liquidated, further deepening the market’s steep decline.
*This is not investment advice.