Institutions Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum Even When It No Longer Moves the Market

Key Takeaways

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  Institutions accumulated large amounts of BTC and ETH even as prices continued to fall.
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  Most of the buying happened through OTC and private transfers rather than exchanges.
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  ETF flows show heavy outflows, yet accumulation has not stopped behind the scenes.

Market analysts suggest the downturn may be closer to ending than beginning.

This week offered the opposite: the largest inflows into Bitcoin and Ethereum came during one of the sharpest selloffs of the year — and prices barely flickered. What’s happening beneath the surface looks less like panic and more like a silent transfer of coins from short-term traders to deep-pocketed holders.

Buying That Doesn’t Want Attention

Instead of stacking through public exchanges, accumulation is unfolding through private channels and OTC transfers. One Ethereum address — tracked by analysts and tagged as #66KETHBorrow — has quietly absorbed ETH in blocks so large that even a single transaction can exceed $70 million. In total, the wallet has taken in almost 40,000 ETH in just two large transfers. At the same time, a wallet tied to Tom Lee’s BitMine received 9,176 ETH from Galaxy Digital’s OTC desk — not from exchanges where retail traders might notice.

Bitcoin has followed the same pattern. Anchorage Digital has received 4,094 BTC, roughly $405 million, in a matter of hours — with supply routed from firms such as Coinbase, Galaxy Digital, Wintermute, and Cumberland. None of this volume hit centralized exchanges, so none of it created upward pressure.

A Bear Market That Doesn’t Feel Like One

This disconnect between accumulation and price action is central to Hunter Horsley’s latest market view. The Bitwise CEO argues that the downturn everyone fears has already been underway for half a year — and that the worst may be behind the market rather than ahead of it. According to Horsley, the introduction of Bitcoin ETFs in 2023 broke the old four-year cycle narrative. Capital now rotates through institutional vehicles, and the market bottoms without emotional blow-off events at retail level.

ETFs Tell the Other Side of the Story

The one place where sentiment is still loud is in ETF flows. Bitcoin funds saw $869 million in outflows, the second-largest exit on record, and Ethereum ETFs lost $260 million. Add them together, and more than $1 billion left crypto ETFs in a single move. If price reacted to ETF flows alone, Bitcoin would be far below $95,000 and Ethereum wouldn’t still be defending $3,000.

But the ETH and BTC being swallowed by long-term buyers this week never touched ETFs at all. The accumulation that matters — the accumulation that actually tightens supply — is taking place off-exchange and away from public visibility.

The Market’s Next Phase

If the current trend continues, the next rally might not start when prices are low — but when selling power finally runs out, because the most liquid coins are already in the hands of buyers who don’t sell into fear. Crypto used to rise when smart money bought. Now smart money buys when crypto falls.