Bloomberg: In the past year, early Bitcoin holders have sold 500,000 BTC, and if institutional inflows stagnate, it may trigger a sharp fall.

BlockBeats news, on July 4, reported by Bloomberg, despite the continuous stream of favourable information, the price of Bitcoin has not been able to break through the current trading range for months. Beneath the surface, long-silent whales are reducing their positions, while institutional investors are accelerating their purchases. This shift is gradually transforming Bitcoin's attributes from a high-risk speculative asset to a long-term allocation asset. According to 10x Research data, large holders have sold more than 500,000 Bitcoins (valued at over 50 billion USD at current prices) over the past year, which is almost equivalent to the total net inflow of the Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. since its approval, and is not far off from the 65 billion USD accumulation scale of crypto holdings pioneer Michael Saylor and his company (now known as Strategy) over the past five years. Many of the sellers can be traced back to the early cycles of Bitcoin, when prices were far below current levels. Some whales are not simply selling but are swapping tokens for stock-related assets through OTC trading. Edward Chin, co-founder of Parataxis Capital, stated: "What we are seeing is a replacement of underlying holdings; a less noticed driving factor is that whales are participating in equity-related financing transactions through physical Bitcoin contributions to convert their risk exposure." Despite whale sell-offs, institutional entities such as ETFs and corporate treasuries have collectively absorbed nearly 900,000 Bitcoins over the past year. These institutions currently hold about 4.8 million Bitcoins, accounting for 20% of the circulating supply. However, observers warn that while institutions bring stability to the crypto market, they could also become the exit channel that whales have long awaited—if market sentiment reverses, retail investors and retirement investors may bear the risk. The main current risk lies in the supply-demand imbalance: if whales restart large-scale dumping while institutional inflows stagnate, the market could face a sharp decline. According to 10x Research's data, in 2018 and 2022, just 2% and 9% of fund outflows respectively triggered declines in Bitcoin prices of 74% and 64%.