Original | Odaily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Golem (@web3_golem)
The recent crypto market has been volatile. Last week, the BTC price plummeted significantly, briefly dipping to around $78,000; subsequently, a "crypto reserve" tweet by Trump caused BTC to surge 10% in a single day, returning to $95,000. However, the "Trump shill" effect only lasted a day, and BTC plummeted again this week, reaching a low of $81,000.
Facing the erratic and extreme market conditions, even investors who have managed to avoid losses are almost completely drained of confidence in the market. Even Michael Saylor, the founder of the "die-hard BTC fan" Strategy, who publicly stated "I would sell a kidney to keep BTC", was quite honest in his actions and did not increase his BTC holdings during last week's crash.
Although the crypto community's sentiment is not optimistic, with many calling the "end of the bull market", there is still a large wave of institutions and whales buying the dips. Odaily has compiled a list of the institutions and whales that have been buying the dips during the recent market decline, to provide some confidence to the perplexed investors.
Institutional Operations
Although Strategy did not buy the dip in BTC last week, there are still many other institutions and companies choosing to increase their BTC holdings during this decline.
Metaplanet: Increased holdings by about 788 BTC after the crash
The Japanese listed company Metaplanet has been continuously increasing its BTC holdings since the BTC crash last week. Before the crash, the company's CEO, Simon Gerovich, stated that as of February 20, 2025, Metaplanet had acquired 2,100 BTC at an average price of about $80,905, for a total of about $169.9 million.
After the sharp drop in BTC price on February 24, Metaplanet subsequently increased its holdings by 135 BTC on February 25 and 156 BTC on March 3; and in order to buy more BTC, Metaplanet issued a 2 billion yen (about $13.4 million) interest-free corporate bond on February 27. Additionally, according to Metaplanet's announcement on March 4, the company completed a large-scale exercise of the 13th and 14th series of stock subscription rights through a third-party private placement, raising a total of about 12.97 billion yen (about $87 million), which will also be used to continue increasing its BTC holdings to strengthen its digital asset investment strategy.
As of March 5, Metaplanet's BTC holdings have reached 2,888 BTC.
El Salvador: Continues to increase holdings despite market decline and IMF pressure
Since December 22, 2024, El Salvador has been purchasing 1 to 11 BTC per day; as of February 18, it had accumulated about 93,417 BTC at an average price of $98,579, holding 6,081 BTC.
However, from February 19 to February 24, El Salvador did not purchase any BTC, but after the market declined on February 24, it chose to increase its holdings, purchasing 7 BTC in the early morning of February 25, and then another 5 BTC when the market turned down again on March 4, bringing its total holdings to 6,101.18 BTC as of March 5.
At the same time, although El Salvador has reached a $1.4 billion financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the IMF has put pressure on the country to strengthen restrictions on public sector purchases of BTC. On March 3, the IMF submitted several documents, including a technical memorandum that explicitly requires the Salvadoran government not to actively increase its BTC holdings and to limit the issuance of debt and tokenized instruments linked to or denominated in BTC by the public sector.
However, facing the pressure, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele stated that El Salvador has no intention of stopping its purchase of BTC, regardless of what requirements the IMF may impose.
Boyaa Interactive: Increased holdings by 100 BTC after the crash
Boyaa Interactive is the Asian company with the largest BTC holdings. In 2023, the company's board of directors approved a $5 million budget to invest in cryptocurrencies, and in March 2024, it first disclosed that it held 1,110 BTC, and has been continuously increasing its holdings since then. When BTC fell below $80,000, Boyaa Interactive spent $7.95 million to purchase an additional 100 BTC at an average price of $79,500 on February 28. Boyaa Interactive's total BTC holdings have now increased to 3,350 BTC, with an average holding price of $58,627, lower than Strategy's average holding price.
Other institutions that bought the dip
In addition to the above companies, many other companies have also chosen to increase their BTC holdings during this decline. For example, the Japanese listed company Remixpoint spent 500 million yen to purchase 39.37 BTC on February 27, increasing its BTC holdings to 575.89 BTC; the Bitcoin reward financial services company Fold Holdings increased its holdings by 10 BTC on February 26 at an average price of $875,000; and the Nasdaq-listed US Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot announced on February 26 that it had increased its holdings by 11.1 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 82.6 BTC.
Whale Signals
For retail investors, the buy-in of institutions or companies may not be as valuable a reference as on-chain whales, as listed companies usually incorporate their crypto assets into their balance sheets and hold them long-term, focusing on the big picture. On-chain whales, on the other hand, tend to operate more frequently, focusing on shorter-term cycles or certain "certainty opportunities", and therefore provide stronger guidance for retail investors. And during the recent market decline, many on-chain whales have also been buying the dips.
Large whales are withdrawing BTC from exchanges
When whales withdraw BTC from exchanges, it may indicate that they are preparing to hold BTC for the long term rather than sell. On March 3, according to Onchain Data Nerd's monitoring, even as the market declined, some whales still withdrew over 1,662 BTC from Binance:
bc1q0 withdrew 600 BTC (about $51.5 million). Over the past 3 days, he has cumulatively purchased 2,100 BTC (about $178.21 million) at an average price of $84,860.
3PRHV withdrew 73.44 BTC (about $6.25 million) at an entry price of $85,188.
Galaxy_Digital withdrew 657 BTC (about $61.58 million).
377Cr withdrew 332 BTC (about $31.25 million).
Meanwhile, according to data disclosed by IntoTheBlock, large BTC holders also bought the dip after the market decline on February 24, increasing their total balance by nearly 15,000 BTC, with an average buy-in price below $90,000, worth about $128 million.
Multiple whales still love ETH
Last week, the price of ETH fell from a high of $2,800 to around $2,000, with a maximum intraday decline of over 20%. "When the market is good, it doesn't rise, and when the market is bad, it leads the decline." Investors' confidence in ETH has been hit again, but from the on-chain perspective, there are still many whales buying the dips of ETH.
The whale "7 Siblings" is the "number one die-hard fan" of ETH, and has previously bought the dips of ETH during market declines. According to Lookonchain's monitoring on February 25, after the market decline, 7 Siblings spent 28.75 million DAI to buy 12,070 ETH at an average price of $2,382; they then increased their holdings by 4,993 ETH on March 4, spending $10.36 million. As of March 5, according to OnchainLens' monitoring, the whale "7 Siblings" has a total of 1,169,015 ETH (worth $25.3 billion) in their two wallets; in this decline, the whale "7 Siblings" bought the dips of about 20,000 ETH.
On March 3, on-chain analyst "AI Aunt" monitored that the address of the well-known market maker Amber Group is suspected to have built a position of 11,000 ETH, worth $27.49 million, but this may also be the market maker adjusting its capital.
But there are two other whales who are actually increasing their positions:
One is the whale who previously "made a profit of $33.67 million by buying low and selling high ETH" and bought another 2,000 ETH ($4.1 million) after being caught in a position. Since last December, they have built a position of 34,001 ETH ($93.63 million) at an average price of $2,753, and are now underwater by more than $24.14 million.
Another whale, who previously made a profit of $14.26 million by buying low and selling high WBTC, again increased their position by 2,000 ETH, worth about $4.37 million, on March 5; since February, this whale has cumulatively withdrawn 5,600 ETH, worth about $13.62 million, from Kraken, with an average cost of $2,432.
Buy, hold and wait
The key to making big money is not in buying and selling, but in waiting.
Perhaps the difference between ordinary investors and institutions and whales, in addition to the size of their capital, is also patience. The recent large market fluctuations have undoubtedly made many investors anxious, and even cast doubt on the continuation of the bull market. However, from the operations of institutions and whales, they not only have not panicked due to short-term declines, but have instead increased their holdings in the low positions, they have stronger information acquisition capabilities and more comprehensive risk assessment, and they have not retreated, so ordinary retail investors may be able to follow and imitate.
The partner of Placeholder stated that when the crypto market sentiment is depressed, maintaining patience is key, and many people choose to give up out of fear, but this is the opportunity for investors. Any market will experience ups and downs, and the bull market will not be a straight line up. Bitcoin and Ethereum have experienced several major corrections in their past bull markets, but have ultimately set new highs. Therefore, we should not be swayed by short-term declines, and only by first changing our investment mindset can we truly profit from the market.
