Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )
Author: Golem ( @web3_golem )
The recent crypto market has been up and down. Last week, the price of BTC fell sharply, once dropping to around $78,000; then Trumps crypto reserve tweet caused BTC to surge 10% in a single day and return to $95,000. However, the Trump Emperors call was only effective for one day, and BTC fell sharply again this week, falling to a low of $81,000.
Faced with the treacherous and volatile extreme market conditions, even if investors control their operations and do not suffer losses, their confidence in the market has almost been completely eroded. Even Michael Saylor, the founder of Strategy, a die-hard Bitcoin fan, said that he would keep Bitcoin even if he had to sell a kidney, but his actions were honest and he did not increase his holdings of Bitcoin during last weeks plunge.
Although the mood in the crypto community is not optimistic, and many people are shouting the end of the bull market, there are still a large number of institutions and whales who are bottom-fishing. Odaily Planet Daily has compiled the institutions and whales that have been bottom-fishing in the recent market decline to boost some confidence for hesitant investors.
Institutional Operations
Although Strategy did not buy the bottom of Bitcoin last week, many other institutions and companies chose to increase their holdings of Bitcoin during this decline.
Metaplanet: Increased holdings of about 788 BTC after the crash
Metaplanet, a Japanese listed company, has continued to increase its holdings of Bitcoin since the Bitcoin price plummeted last week. Before the plunge, the companys CEO Simon Gerovich wrote that as of February 20, 2025, Metaplanet had acquired a total of 2,100 BTC at an average price of approximately $80,905, with a purchase price of approximately $169.9 million.
After the Bitcoin price plunged on February 24, Metaplanet increased its holdings by 135 and 156 BTC on February 25 and March 3, respectively. In addition, in order to purchase more Bitcoin, Metaplanet issued interest-free ordinary corporate bonds worth 2 billion yen (about 13.4 million U.S. dollars) on February 27. At the same time, according to Metaplanet’s announcement on March 4, the company completed the large-scale exercise of the 13th and 14th series of stock subscription rights through a third-party private placement, raising a total of approximately 12.97 billion yen (about 87 million U.S. dollars). The funds will also be used to continue to increase Bitcoin holdings to strengthen its digital asset investment strategy.
As of March 5, Metaplanets holdings have reached 2,888.
El Salvador: Facing market decline and IMF pressure, it still chooses to increase its holdings
Since December 22, 2024, El Salvador has increased its holdings by 1 to 11 bitcoins every day; as of February 18, it had purchased a total of approximately 93.417 BTC at an average price of $98,579 and held 6,081 bitcoins .
However, between February 19 and February 24, El Salvador did not purchase BTC. Instead, he chose to increase his holdings after the market fell on February 24. In the early morning of February 25, El Salvador increased his holdings by 7 BTC, and then increased his holdings by another 5 BTC when the market turned downward on March 4. As of March 5, his total holdings reached 6,101.18 BTC.
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 the purchase of Bitcoin by the public sector. On March 3, the IMF submitted several documents, in which the technical memorandum clearly required the Salvadoran government not to actively increase its holdings of Bitcoin and restrict the public sector from issuing debt and tokenized instruments linked to or denominated in Bitcoin.
However, in the face of pressure, Salvadoran Nayib Bukele said that El Salvador has no intention of stopping its purchases of Bitcoin (BTC), regardless of what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) asks.
Boyaa Interactive: Increased holdings of 100 BTC after the sharp drop
Boyaa Interactive is the listed company with the largest Bitcoin holding in Asia. In 2023, the companys board of directors approved the use of a $5 million budget to invest in cryptocurrencies. In March 2024, it first disclosed that it held 1,110 BTC, and has continued to increase its holdings since then. When Bitcoin fell below $80,000 this time, Boyaa Interactive spent $7.95 million on February 28 to increase its holdings by 100 Bitcoins, with an average purchase price of $79,500. Boyaa Interactives total Bitcoin holdings increased to 3,350, with an average holding price of $58,627, which is lower than the average holding price of Strategy.
Other institutions that are bottom-fishing during a decline
In addition to the above companies, many other companies have chosen to increase their holdings of Bitcoin during this decline. For example, Japanese listed company Remixpoint spent 500 million yen on February 27 to purchase 39.37 BTC, increasing its Bitcoin holdings to 575.89; Bitcoin reward financial services company Fold Holdings increased its holdings of 10 Bitcoins on February 26, with an average purchase price of $875,000; Nasdaq-listed US Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot announced on February 26 that it had increased its holdings by 11.1 Bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 82.6 Bitcoins.
Whale Signal
For retail investors, the purchase value of institutions or companies may not be as good as that of on-chain whales, because listed companies usually include the crypto assets they hold in their balance sheets and hold them for a long time, focusing on large cycles. On-chain whales usually operate more frequently, focusing on small cycles or certain certain opportunities, so they are more instructive for retail investors. In the recent market decline, many on-chain whales also bought at the bottom.
A large number of whales withdraw BTC from exchanges
When whales withdraw BTC from exchanges, it may mean that they are prepared to hoard BTC for a long time without selling it. On March 3, according to Onchain Data Nerd , even though the market fell, some whales still withdrew more than 1,662 bitcoins from Binance:
bc1q0 withdrew 600 BTC (about 51.5 million US dollars). In the past 3 days, he has purchased a total of 2,100 BTC (about 178.21 million US dollars) at a price of 84,860 US dollars.
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).
At the same time, according to data disclosed by IntoTheBlock, large Bitcoin holders also bought on dips after the market fell on February 24. Wallets holding at least 0.1% of the circulating supply added nearly 15,000 BTC to their total balance at a purchase price of less than $90,000, worth approximately $1.28 billion.
Many whales still love ETH
Last week, the price of ETH fell from a high of $2,800 to around $2,000, with the largest drop of more than 20% during the week. When the market is good, it does not rise, and when the market is bad, it leads the decline. Investors confidence in ETH has been hit again, but from the perspective of the chain, there are still many whales buying ETH at the bottom.
7 Siblings is the number one die-hard fan of ETH. Previously, they bought the bottom of ETH during the market decline. On February 25, according to Lookonchain monitoring , after the market fell, 7 Siblings spent 28.75 million DAI to buy 12,070 ETH at an average price of $2,382; then on March 4, they increased their holdings by 4,993 ETH at a cost of $10.36 million. As of March 5, according to OnchainLens monitoring , 7 Siblings held a total of 1,169,015 ETH (worth $2.53 billion) in its two wallets; during this decline, 7 Siblings bought the bottom of about 20,000 ETH.
On March 3, the on-chain analyst AI Auntie monitored that the address of the well-known market maker Amber Group was also suspected of building a position of 11,000 ETH, worth US$27.49 million, but this may also be the market maker allocating funds.
But two other whales actually increased their positions:
One is the giant whale who bought ETH low and sold it high and made a profit of $33.67 million. After increasing his position and being trapped, he bought another 2,000 ETH (US$4.1 million). Since December last year, he has built a position of 34,001 ETH (US$93.63 million) at an average price of US$2,753. His current floating loss exceeds US$24.14 million.
Another whale who made a profit of $14.26 million by buying WBTC low and selling it high added another 2,000 ETH on March 5, worth about $4.37 million. Since February, the whale has withdrawn a total of 5,600 ETH from Kraken, worth about $13.62 million, with an average cost of $2,432.
Buy, hold and wait
The secret to making big money is not buying and selling, but waiting.
Perhaps the difference between ordinary investors and institutions and whales is not only the size of their capital, but also their patience. The recent sharp market fluctuations have undoubtedly made many investors anxious and even doubted the continuation of the bull market. However, judging from the operations of institutions and whales, they not only did not panic due to the short-term decline, but instead increased their holdings at low levels. They have stronger information acquisition capabilities and more comprehensive risk assessments and have not retreated. Ordinary retail investors may be able to follow suit.
A partner at Placeholder said that patience is key when crypto market sentiment is low. Many people give up out of fear, but this is an opportunity for investors. Any market will experience ups and downs, and a bull market will not rise in a straight line. Bitcoin and Ethereum have experienced several major adjustments in the past bull markets, but they still hit new highs in the end. Therefore, we should not be swayed by short-term declines. Only by changing our investment mentality first can we truly profit from the market.
