Bitcoin’s biggest early holders, often called original gangsters, are hitting the sell button after the Federal Reserve rattled expectations for lower borrowing costs.
Blockchain data tracked by Lookonchain shows at least two long-term holders together dumped over 1,650 BTC worth more than $117.87 million early Thursday.
One veteran whale who previously sold an 11,000‑BTC stack, added another 650 BTC to his dump, while a separate early‑adopter OG with a 5,000‑BTC stash offloaded a full 1,000 BTC.
Bitcoin’s price dipped nearly 1% to $70,600 soon before press time, extending Wednesday’s 3.5% slide from $74,500, according to CoinDesk data. The broader market wilted, with the CoinDesk 20 Index 3% to 2,056 points. Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), solana (SOL), and suffered similar losses.
The decline followed a hawkish Fed rate decision on Wednesday, when the central bank left the benchmark borrowing cost unchanged in the 3.5%–3.75% range but signaled a slower pace of rate cuts ahead, disappointing risk‑asset bulls.
The hawkish tone came through the so‑called interest‑rate “dot plot,” which shows where the Fed’s voting members expect interest rates to land in the months ahead. The median projection indicated only one rate cut this year, despite recent labour-market weakness. Moreover, only two committee members remained in the two‑cut camp, and Chair Powell’s own personal projection moved higher.
“The higher for longer narrative has been reinvigorated by sticky inflation and the inflationary shadow cast by rising energy costs, forcing investors to abandon their dreams of a rapid easing cycle,” Matt Mena, crypto research strategist at 21shares, said in an email.
Taken together, these developments pointed to a central bank still wary of inflation and this has led to a sharp repricing of bets on Fed rate cuts. Trading on the decentralized platform Polymarket and pricing in the CME Fed funds futures, now implies around an 80% probability of just one rate cut this year, versus a 62% probability of two to three rate cuts a month ago.
This outlook for tighter liquidity is not supportive of risk-taking in financial markets.