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For the past couple of weeks, a Bitcoin “OG,” inactive for a significant period, has been actively moving billions of dollars worth of BTC into ETH. These transactions have primarily been executed on Hyperliquid. Subsequently, substantial amounts of ETH have been withdrawn for self-custody and a large portion staked on the Beacon Chain.
Bitcoin OG Whale Actively Diversifying into ETH
Blockchain analyst “MLM” has been documenting these movements in real-time. During the most recent 46-hour period, the address group associated with this trader sold 7,000 BTC (approximately $759 million based on MLM’s reference prices) and acquired 171,791.84 ETH (roughly $773 million).
MLM also noted that 3,000 BTC remains in the actively used originating address, suggesting potential for further conversions. Two older, previously inactive wallets still contain a combined 46,816 BTC, valued at around $5.07 billion. Over the past 11 days, MLM has recorded a total of 34,110 BTC sold (approximately $3.7 billion) and 813,298.84 ETH purchased (around $3.66 billion), using a baseline price of $108,400 per BTC and $4,500 per ETH for comparison.
The chosen trading platform is also drawing attention. Hyperliquid’s public explorer (HypurrScan) displays significant activity from the Hyperliquid account identified by MLM, showing phased Bitcoin deposits followed by large ETH withdrawals. Trader “MoonOverlord” commented that the platform selection isn’t unusual, stating that it’s just a trade and the individual likely chose the best available venue. MLM countered that the oddity is not the platform itself, but the fact that an anonymous “OG” Bitcoin whale is choosing to swap such a large amount of BTC for ETH, which is an atypical move.
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Arkham Intelligence has independently identified the same entity, stating: “THIS WHALE JUST BOUGHT $430M OF ETH – AND STILL HAS $650M LEFT TO BUY,” and pinpointing specific addresses on both blockchains. According to Arkham, this whale has acquired over $3 billion worth of ETH in total and has staked the majority of it. Arkham links the activity to a BTC source wallet starting with “169q…” and an ETH receiving wallet “0x6167…”.
Evidence of staking is now visible on the blockchain. On September 1st, funds flowing from the 0x6167… address went to a “Beacon Depositor” account which then made a series of deposit transactions totaling 165,010 ETH to Ethereum’s staking contract. Dozens of deposits calls of 30,000 ETH and 15,010 ETH were posted within the same hour. The deposit contract and funding trail from 0x6167… confirms a substantial amount of the newly acquired ETH was directly staked.
Regarding the Bitcoin side, the active source wallet “169q…” and two long-dormant wallets “17MWd…” and “12Xqe…” form the cluster that MLM has been tracking. Mempool records reveal recent activity between these wallets and outputs from 169q…, aligning with the gradual deposits to Hyperliquid detailed in the analyst’s thread.
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The identity of this trader remains speculative. MLM suggests a potential Asian connection, noting that the original BTC was accumulated seven to eight years ago through platforms and miners linked to Asia: “HTX, OKX, ViaBTC (a mining pool), Bixin (a miner), and Binance.” However, MLM advises against over-interpreting the intentions, stating, “Of course, don’t take this prediction as financial advice, since it’s all speculation for now and we don’t know the intentions of this whale.”
Potential $5 Billion Selloff Still in Play
While observers debate the trader’s motivations, the mechanics of the transactions are clear: staged BTC deposits to a single exchange, incremental ETH purchases to minimize price slippage, rapid withdrawals for self-custody, and the swift conversion of a significant portion into staked ETH. The pattern of deposits and withdrawals, some clustered over weekends, also aligns with the timing observations from MLM’s records and Arkham’s updates.
The degree to which this rotation will continue remains the key unknown. MLM’s running analysis suggests that several thousand more BTC are likely to be moved: “Additionally, there’s another combined 46.816 BTC ($5.07B) across these wallets: 17MWd [and] 12Xqeq. Of this, another 14.495 BTC ($1.57B) might get rotated based on previous activity, though it’s unclear what will happen with the remaining 32.321 BTC ($3.5B). At this point, it looks like he is rotating everything lol.”
As of the time of this report, BTC was trading at $109,621.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com