Owen Gunden has been Bitcoin owner for fourteen years. This includes all the crashes, regulatory concerns, and celebrity deaths (of digital currency) over the course of its history.
In late 2024, Owen sold all 11,000 Bitcoin for more than $1.3 billion. Not a piece of it... The whole amount.
Kraken performed a multi-phase liquidation starting in October and finishing in November 2024. This transaction was not part of a portfolio rebalancing. Owen's exposure to Bitcoin went from 100% to 0%. Conviction does not work like this.
The price of Bitcoin was rising rapidly; it had hit nearly $126,000 per BTC before Gunden's exiting began in early October 2025. Many of the early purchasers began to sell shares and hedge their positions in anticipation of the rising price. Although Gunden's actions seemed to be causing joy towards the phase where he sold out completely, he threw gasoline on the fire by dumping onto the market and pouring out a huge amount of BTC before the market could decline.
In fact, after Gunden's actions, the market didn't begin to decline right away. Considering the sheer quantity of BTC dumped onto the market, this is somewhat surprising. In December of 2021, BTC would experience a 30% decline; however, there was still very good liquidity in the BTC market across all major exchanges. The selling by Gunden was drastically reduced due to ETF inflows. But Gunden was not willing to wait around to see if larger investors would come in and help him.
Gunden wasn't alone doing what he did. After being inactive for 14 years, a Satoshi-era wallet sent 80,000 BTC to Galaxy Digital in July 2025. The sale was later characterized by Galaxy as "one of the largest notional bitcoin transactions to occur in crypto history" and part of their estate planning process. Nine billion in value!
In 2025, CryptoQuant analysts noticed an increase in institutional ownership of older coins. The trend is clear: holders from the foundation era are now selling to both institutions as well as retail consumers at prices that these whales never dreamed possible back in 2011. This is typical late-cycle activity; the question is simply whether they are leaving on time or leaving too early.
An X user found it "unbelievably out of character" that an investor would hold on to something for 14 years and then reduce their exposure to it from 100% to 0%. Investors who previously had large amounts invested (whales) left, and new investors entered, which is a typical cycle of events. Optimists interpreted this as a signal of a market bottom, while pessimists wondered what kind of inside information these investors had.
Unlike retail investors, Gunden was able to exploit his years of pattern recognition by studying and being involved in every Bitcoin cycle from the beginning of time. Gunden had seen the crash of Bitcoin in 2013, he was part of Mt. Gox, as well as witnessing companies get involved with Bitcoin in 2017 only to pull their investments by 2018. After living through those cycles, he made the decision to bow out completely in November 2024.
The market cap was not justified by fear alone being caused by uncertainty regarding the future of Bitcoin as it was stored away in more than enough 6-digit accounts at the time. If Bitcoin is worth $150,000 by the end of 2025 according to Michael Saylor, the growth of institutional investment in Bitcoin through ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) and everything looked on the surface to be okay.
Between November 29th and December 5th of 2020, 77,120 bitcoins (BT) or about 0.44% of the total supply were sold from wallets containing 10-10,000 BT in a single week (at least). That suggests that these holders are aware of how BTC's supply dynamics work and are therefore selling when there is still demand for BTC.
In most cases, when there's been a significant bearish trend, ETF inflows (institutional buying) have balanced out the selling pressure creating a market that has less erratic price movement. However, that balance may be fragile. The sell walls created during these sessions will have nothing to stop them from dropping quickly if/when the institutional buyers stop purchasing BTC. The early Bitcoin adopters have seen this happen first hand.
With $19 billion in leveraged positions liquidated in less than a day in October 2025, the cryptocurrency market barely survived the largest flash crash in its history. System fragility is extreme. Cross-asset margin systems enhance liquidation cascades. De-pegging stablecoins under pressure leads to reflexive selling.
Gunden left before retail realized any of that. Not because he forecast the exact crash—because he understood the setting. Leverage was tremendous. The liquidity was dispersed. The infrastructure issues that brought down earlier bull markets reappeared, but with greater severity.
As part of the investor's estate planning approach, Galaxy Digital announced one significant Satoshi-era sale. That's a convenient tale. Estate planning doesn't require liquidating everything immediately. Bitcoin can be transferred to heirs. Trusts can be established. Over years, you can scale out.
It is technically correct and wholly deceptive to refer to it as estate planning. While hiding the market timing decision, it clarifies the legal mechanics. These whales are intelligent enough to design their own escapes. For reasons unconnected to inheritance tax, they now opted for full liquidation.
As 2026 approached, conventional four-year cycle patterns seemed less predictable. The halving, ETF approval, institutional adoption—all the bull case catalysts were priced in. The potential that a large number of founding-era holders might sell their shares before Bitcoin reached new paradigm pricing was not factored in.
This has nothing to do with Bitcoin's technological failure. It's about knowing when your advantage fades. When Bitcoin was practically worthless, Gunden made a purchase. He had no cost basis. Regardless of the exit price, his benefit was limitless. When institutions are eager to purchase for six figures, why endure another cycle?
When someone maintains an asset for 14 years despite numerous 80% drawdowns, they believe in something fundamental. They either ceased believing or realized the transaction was over when they sold everything. There is no bullish interpretation.
The market will ignore this as profit-taking. Somewhere, the charts will find support. This time, new stories about why Bitcoin is unique will surface. However, the initial attendees simply departed. They are familiar with the appearance of early innings. It's not this.
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