On August 1, 2025, the cryptocurrency market experienced a dramatic upheaval as Bitcoin 
$76,395 and Ethereum 
$2,328 suffered significant losses. Amid this financial chaos, an unidentified wallet, labeled “0xd8d0…”, executed a massive purchase exceeding $200 million in cryptocurrencies. This whale moved $178.36 million in USDC to exchanges Wintermute and Coinbase, acquiring 893 Bitcoin and 20,000 Ethereum. Concurrently, futures markets saw liquidations totaling $628 million. These events coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs ranging from 19% to 39% on multiple countries, exacerbating the selling pressure across markets.
Panic Selling Meets Strategic Accumulation
According to data compiled by Lookonchain, the whale transactions were executed in two phases. Once completed, the whale accumulated $103.5 million in Bitcoin and $74.06 million in Ethereum, exceeding a total investment of $250 million in the market. Despite the large purchase volume, there was no significant price surge in the cryptos, with analysts suggesting that deep market liquidity absorbed these acquisitions.
Trump’s tariffs on countries including South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and Canada escalated market uncertainty. Bitcoin’s value plummeted from a peak of $122,800 to $114,300, bringing the $111,000 support level into focus, whereas Ethereum dropped to $3,605, wiping out $186.55 million in derivatives.
Whale Moves Counter Individual Investor Exodus
Analyst Amr Taha noted that short-term investors increased their Bitcoin holdings on the Binance exchange from 10,000 to 36,000 throughout July, leading to the liquidation of 158,000 investors. Meanwhile, whales withdrew $900 million worth of ETH from centralized exchanges into cold wallets by July 31, reducing supply.
The ‘new investor dominance’ metric, which had surpassed 65% at peak cycles in March and December 2024, has now dropped to 30%, indicating considerable distance from the cycle’s top point.
Experienced technical analyst Ali Martinez suggested that if Bitcoin maintains above $105,450, subsequent targets of $125,230 and $141,770 are plausible. Remarkably, the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged is bolstering fund strategies targeting this scenario.
