- Crypto market sees a significant selling spree from institutional investors.
- Bitcoin drops below $61,000, negatively impacting altcoin prices.
- Whales including Galaxy Digital and GSR Markets offload large amounts of altcoins.
Institutional investors are unloading massive amounts of altcoins, stirring the crypto market. Read on to uncover the reasons and implications behind this move.
Institutional Giants Shift to Selling Mode
According to a report by on-chain analyst The Data Nerd, notable institutional investor Galaxy Digital has transferred $14.72 million worth of Avalanche (AVAX) to Binance.
The data indicates that a Galaxy Digital wallet moved approximately 520,000 AVAX to the Binance exchange. Previously, the same wallet had deposited 498 BTC into the AAVE lending protocol to borrow 520,000 AVAX.
Besides Galaxy Digital, another major player, GSR Markets, also executed substantial transactions. GSR Markets reportedly deposited 300,000 Chainlink (LINK) tokens, approximately valued at $4.37 million, into Binance.
This move saw a wallet suspected to belong to GSR Markets transfer these LINK tokens from a multisig wallet, intensifying the sell-off trend among institutional investors.
11 hours ago, @GalaxyDigital deposited 520k $AVAX (~$14.72M) to #Binance.
Yesterday, they staked 498 BTC.B into #AAVE and borrowed 520k $AVAX.
Address: pic.twitter.com/AEVOcE2K8K
— The Data Nerd (@OnchainDataNerd) July 3, 2024
Whales Sell at a Loss
Latest data reveals that large-scale whales have unloaded significant amounts of altcoins, which resulted in notable price drops. According to Lookonchain, whales offloaded tokens such as LDO, AAVE, UNI, and FXS.
Specifically, these whales sold around $13.42 million worth of altcoins to Binance, negatively impacting the market. The breakdown includes 3.13 million LDO (valued at $5.77 million), 49,771 AAVE ($4.54 million), 269,177 UNI ($2.41 million), and 250,969 FXS ($708,000).
This series of transactions drove down the prices of the mentioned tokens. The selling whale, who invested heavily in ETH and other Ethereum ecosystem tokens post-SEC approval of the ETH ETF, incurred losses on most of these trades.
The whale, who had previously invested over $73 million in Ethereum and related tokens, is now selling assets at a loss. This has caused a significant drop in prices for $LDO, $AAVE, $UNI, and $FXS.
The whale’s remaining holdings are 3.33 million LDO worth $5.83 million and 31,191 AAVE valued at $2.8 million. They currently have a net profit of $2.87 million, primarily from gains in ETH.
Conclusion
The relentless selling spree by institutional investors like Galaxy Digital and GSR Markets has created considerable turbulence in the crypto market. While these moves to liquidate altcoin holdings at a loss highlight the volatile nature of crypto investments, it also underlines the shifting strategies among major market players. As the crypto world continues to evolve, understanding these dynamics is key for future market predictions and strategic decisions.
