TL;DR
- Hyperunit whale sold $500 million ETH to Binance in tranches of 69,000, 96,000, and 95,000 ETH, as intraday ETH fell 4% from $2,067.
- Arkham linked it to a whale accumulating 100,000+ BTC, then sending 39,738 BTC worth $4.49 billion on Aug. 14, 2025 to rotate.
- Holdings fell from $11.14 billion to $3.13 billion by Feb. 16, 2026, with $3.7 billion leveraged losses and $1.2 billion staked wipeouts.
A Hyperunit whale rattled weekend markets after selling over $500 million worth of ETH, as Ethereum slipped 4% from an intraday high of $2,067. The abrupt flow into Binance reads like forced risk reduction hitting a market already leaning fragile. Arkham Intelligence said the whale transferred three tranches to Binance deposits early Sunday, in batches of 69,000 ETH, 96,000 ETH, and 95,000 ETH. After the transfers, ETH fell below $2,000, deepening a slide that has weighed on altcoins for two weeks, and pressure carried into Monday with ETH still below $2,000 levels.
The Hyperunit Whale appears to be a large Bitcoin holder, likely Chinese, whose wallets accumulated 100K+ BTC during early 2018 (then worth ~$650M).
For years, his strategy was simple: accumulate BTC and hold.
Over 90% of those coins remained untouched for roughly seven years. pic.twitter.com/LIS0JWSrwe
— Arkham (@arkham) February 16, 2026
Rotation, losses, and market pressure
Arkham’s tracking links the seller to a longtime Bitcoin holder, described as of Chinese origin, whose wallets accumulated more than 100,000 BTC in early 2018, valued near $650 million then. What stands out is a seven year holding approach suddenly flipping into a BTC to ETH rotation. More than 90% of those coins were untouched for seven years, and at peak activity the whale controlled Bitcoin worth about $11.14 billion. On Aug. 14, 2025 it sent 39,738 BTC, about $4.49 billion then, to Hyperunit linked wallets to rotate into ether at scale.
That rotation created a massive ether position, and the unwind now looks expensive. The portfolio shift is being reframed as a drawdown narrative as leverage and timing collide. The whale ultimately amassed about 886,371 ETH, valued at more than $4 billion at the time, one of the largest known reallocations recorded on chain since. Arkham’s tracking shows total holdings falling from $11.14 billion in August to about $3.13 billion by Feb. 16, 2026, a net decline of almost $8 billion, as the whale’s Ethereum exposure moved against it over recent months.
Arkham said the whale is sitting on losses of $3.7 billion from leveraged Ethereum exposure and another $1.2 billion wipeout from staked ETH positions. Even with heavy whale activity, ETH is still struggling to reestablish $2,000 as a durable floor. At publication ETH traded near $1,985 after dipping to around $1,958 in Monday’s Asian session, and it ranged from $1,907 to $2,129 over the past week. CryptoQuant said $24.6 billion of ETH changed hands in 24 hours, while large holders sold 1.3 million ETH Feb. 9 to Feb. 12 valued $2.7B.
