Galaxy Digital moved 80,000 BTC worth over $9 billion on July 25, marking one of the largest Bitcoin transfers ever recorded. The firm confirmed it acted on behalf of a long-term holder who first acquired the coins during Bitcoin’s early days.
The transaction was reportedly part of the client’s estate planning. Galaxy used the Bitcoin network’s op_return function to embed a public message in the transaction metadata. Each recipient wallet also received 1 satoshi, which drew attention from on-chain analysts.
The move was fully disclosed on-chain and structured to send a symbolic unit to each receiving address. According to Galaxy, the sender remains unnamed but had held the coins for more than ten years.
Blockchain Analysts Trace BTC to MyBitcoin-Era Wallets
On-chain data revealed the Bitcoin came from wallets linked to MyBitcoin, an early wallet service that shut down in 2011 following a hack. The dormant wallets had not moved any funds since April 2011.
Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, noted the wallets were inactive for over a decade. He said,
“It likely belongs to the hacker or the anonymous founder known as Tom Williams. It seems Galaxy Digital bought the #Bitcoin from them, but I’m not sure if they did any forensics.”
The identity of the Bitcoin holder remains unconfirmed. However, the timing of the wallets’ dormancy matches the collapse of MyBitcoin. Investigators flagged the sudden reactivation of old wallets as rare.
Eliezer Ndinga, an analyst at 21Shares, commented on the possibility of regulatory compliance.
“It’s a behavior akin to a hacker but if that amount was processed by Galaxy I assumed they had a stringent KYC process to enable transaction to go through.”
Galaxy Digital has not released any official documents confirming the identity of the wallet holder.
Market Analysts Question Timing and Execution
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas questioned the scale and urgency of the transaction. He noted that moving such a large amount of Bitcoin in one go could cause price slippage and raised questions about the motive.
“Have they lost faith that badly that they want to take that much money out that quickly? Unless they plan to buy the LA Lakers in cash, it seems odd/even concerning,”
Balchunas wrote on X.
The Bitcoin price dipped below $115,000 after the sale but quickly recovered to $117,000. This bounce occurred despite the size of the transaction and without any major market disruption.
On-chain observers emphasized the rare nature of such old wallets becoming active. The embedded message and distribution of 1 satoshi to each output added visibility to the transaction.
As of now, Galaxy Digital has not commented further on the source of funds or its internal verification process.
