With Bitcoin staying on the bullish side for the most part of the year, data from on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant shows a notable shift in the asset’s market dynamics as whale activities outrank retailers.
The data shows that up to 215,000 dormant BTC tokens worth over $24.7 billion have been awakened since the start of 2025 till date, as institutional traders appear to be taking over the Bitcoin ecosystem. The report comes amid the frequently re-occurring cases of Satoshi-era Bitcoin whales resurfacing with large quantities of BTC.
Notably, the massive reawakening of the long-dormant BTC suggests that long-term holders or whales are repositioning, hence it appears that the impact of retailers on Bitcoin’s growing momentum has been outweighed by institutions.
While over 255,000 BTC were reactivated in 2024, this year has already seen over 215,000 BTC return to the market with about four months left for the year to come to a close. This indicates strategic redistribution of capital from institutional holders into the Bitcoin ecosystem. As such, the Bitcoin positive trajectory may have not just been fueled by market enthusiasm, but by surging whale activities.
BTC rockets over 500% in average reactivation volume and size
While Bitcoin’s performance over the last two years suggests a structural shift in its market patterns, the data further showed that the average monthly volume for the world’s leading cryptocurrency has surged from the 4,900 BTC recorded in 2023 to 30,674 BTC in 2025.
This marks a massive surge of over 526.53% in the average volume of dormant BTC (existing for at least 7 years) moved from month to month.
Moreover, Bitcoin’s transaction size has grown from 162 BTC in 2024 to over 1,000 BTC in 2025 YTD, marking a notable growth of over 519% in the metric. While this means that the average amount of dormant BTC reactivated monthly since the start of 2025 is 1,000 BTC, it appears that large entities are increasingly taking over the Bitcoin market amid rising institutional interest.
Apart from the massive reawakening of large Bitcoin addresses, the surging whale activity is also evident in the consistent streaks of notable inflows recorded by the spot Bitcoin ETFs daily.
Nonetheless, this impressive trend propels the Bitcoin ecosystem for a long-term supply shock, which is capable of pushing Bitcoin to unexpected highs as liquidity on exchanges tends to dry up while long-term holders continue to accumulate.