Galaxy Digital Sells 80,000 BTC From Wallet Linked to MyBitcoin Service

Galaxy Digital revealed the sale of over 80,000 Bitcoin—valued at over $9 billion—on behalf of a long-term investor.

This transaction, announced on 07/25/2025, is one of the largest transactions ever made in Bitcoin's history.

Galaxy's $9 Billion BTC Sale to a Wallet from the Early Days of MyBitcoin

According to Galaxy, these Bitcoins belong to an undisclosed client who purchased them in Bitcoin's early days and had held these coins for over a decade.

The company described this move as part of the client's asset management plan, implying a strategic decision to realize profits after years of holding.

Notably, Galaxy also published this information on-chain, using the op_return field to embed a message in the transaction data.

The transaction included 1 satoshi—Bitcoin's smallest unit—sent to each receiving address. This symbolic action attracted blockchain analysts' attention.

"If the press release isn't on-chain, did it really happen? This transaction was funded with 80,000 sats from a Galaxy Digital address, and paid 1 sat dust to each address related to the 80,000 BTC sale," anonymous Bitcoin analyst Mononaunt said.

After the information was disclosed, blockchain investigators traced the coins to addresses related to MyBitcoin, one of the first Bitcoin wallet services. The platform closed in 2011 after a notorious hack, leaving many uncontrolled coins.

CryptoQuant's CEO, Ki Young Ju noted that wallets had been inactive since April 2011, just before the platform's collapse. This raised speculation about the seller's identity.

"It could belong to a hacker or the anonymous founder known as Tom Williams. It seems Galaxy Digital bought #Bitcoin from them, but I'm not sure if they conducted any investigation," Ju added.

Meanwhile, market analysts also questioned the strategy behind selling such a large amount in a single transaction.

Bloomberg's Eric Balchunas suggested the scale of the Bitcoin sale would cause significant price slippage. He added that the urgency behind this move raised important questions about the seller's motives.

"How much trust have they lost that they want to pull out such a large amount so quickly? Unless they plan to buy the LA Lakers with cash, this seems strange/even concerning," Balchunas questioned.

However, 21Shares' Eliezer Ndinga argued that if Galaxy executed the transaction, they likely performed strict KYC checks, reducing the likelihood of an unidentified bad actor.

"It looks like hacker behavior, but if those funds were processed by Galaxy, I believe they had strict KYC procedures to allow the transaction to occur," Ndinga said.

Other market observers praised Bitcoin's quick recovery after the sell-off. They noted that this recovery reflects its increasingly mature status as an independent asset.

At the time of writing, BTC is trading above $117,000, a significant recovery for a digital asset that had dropped to lows below $115,000 in recent weeks amid the sell-off.