Finance · 25 August, 2026 · 2 min read
Bitcoin Whales Accumulate 20,000 BTC as US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Add $754.69M Net Inflows
Whales accumulated more than 20,000 BTC. US spot BTC ETFs posted about $755 million net inflows.
29 outlets told this the same way.
6 of 8 outlets skipped it: whales/large holders accumulated $1.2B+ worth of BTC since late July.
29outlets compared
Whales and ETF surge
Large Bitcoin holders are accumulating despite Bitcoin trading under $65,000, as on-chain metrics cited by Santiment show wallets holding between 10BTC and 10,000 BTC amassing over 20,000 BTC since 29 July. At current prices, that accumulation is described as about $1.2 billion more in Bitcoin acquired over most of 2026, while US spot Bitcoin ETFs are also seeing renewed demand with $754.69 million in net inflows this week, putting them on track for their best week since April.
CoinDesk frames the same pattern as a renewed buying pressure from large actors, noting that the accumulation has occurred in a tight range below $65,000 where the market has been operating with volatility. CoinDesk also ties the divergence between large and small holders to a security incident, saying the accumulation has been linked to the hack of Coldcard hardware wallet that began on 30 de julio and led to the hacker taking 120 millones de dólares en bitcoin.
Institutional demand returns
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the spot funds attracted roughly $1 billion in net inflows for the week, described as their strongest showing since April and third-best week since last October, which he referred to as Bitcoin’s “silent IPO.” Cointelegraph adds that the rebound followed a major security incident involving Coldcard, a popular Bitcoin hardware wallet developed by Coinkite, that resulted in roughly $116 million worth of Bitcoin being stolen.
In a separate framing, Cointelegraph quotes Balchunas saying, “long-term I can’t imagine there aren’t some who migrate over,” referring to investors potentially shifting from cold storage to ETFs. CoinDesk reports that Nexo analyst Liya Kalchev said the change was “El cambio más evidente se ha producido en los flujos institucionales,” and that spot Bitcoin ETFs had captured more than medio billón de dólares hasta ahora en agosto.
What comes next for BTC
Despite the inflow surge, Bitcoin “has yet to respond with a decisive breakout to the upside,” and Nexo analyst Liya Kalchev argued the market needed to break convincingly above $65,000 for a more common narrative of recovery to take hold. Cointelegraph similarly notes that uncertainty persists around digital asset regulation and the security of crypto self-custody, even as it describes the week’s rebound as a sign of renewed momentum.
Crypto writer living between common sense and volatility is quoted in the Bitcoin Foundation piece as saying Bitcoin survives everything, while the same article says analysts tied the price’s fall to uncertainty surrounding the CLARITY Act and the hacking of Coldcard hardware wallet. Separately, FxNewsToday.ae reports that traders were awaiting the US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report later Friday and that CME FedWatch showed markets pricing in a 54.7% chance of the Fed delivering a 25-basis-point rate hike in September, down from 67% a week earlier.