Galaxy Digital Facilitates Massive Bitcoin Sale,market Shows Resilience
in a notable event for the cryptocurrency market,Galaxy Digital announced on Friday that it successfully executed one of the largest notional Bitcoin transactions ever recorded. The firm managed the sale of over 80,000 Bitcoin, valued at more than $9 billion, on behalf of an investor who acquired the digital assets during Bitcoin’s early “Satoshi era.”
Despite the immense scale of the transaction,the broader Bitcoin market demonstrated remarkable stability. Following a brief dip from approximately $118,000 to $115,000, Bitcoin prices quickly recovered to their pre-sale levels by Sunday. This resilience is being interpreted by market analysts as a testament to Bitcoin’s growing maturity and the depth of its liquidity, enabling it to absorb substantial sell-offs without triggering significant market downturns.
Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike, commented on the event via X (formerly Twitter), stating, “The market absorbing 80,000 Bitcoin in days with barely a blip is a big deal – bitcoin isn’t fragile.” He added, “It’s going to take orders of magnitude more to stop what’s coming.” The impact on other major cryptocurrencies was also minimal, with Ethereum rebounding to trade higher than its pre-sale price and XRP experiencing only a slight 1% decline.
However, the execution strategy of such a large sale did draw some criticism. Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, questioned the decision to sell such a substantial amount in a single transaction on X, suggesting that the “slippage cost is probably insane.” Slippage occurs when the actual execution price of a trade differs from the expected price, a risk amplified when large orders are placed on public exchanges without careful management.
Adam Back, an early Bitcoin developer and CEO of Blockstream, also voiced his concerns, questioning the lack of utilization of over-the-counter (OTC) desks and time-weighted average price (TWAP) strategies, which are commonly employed to mitigate market impact during large trades. He speculated that the seller likely hedged their position to offset any price depreciation caused by the sale.
Market Snapshot:
Bitcoin: Gained 0.6% in the past 24 hours, trading at $118,150.
Ethereum: Also up 0.6% in the same period, trading at $3,770.
