One of the most significant rumors that resonated in the Bitcoin (BTC) market during the day was the claim that Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), led by Michael Saylor, sold $4 billion worth of Bitcoin today.
This claim, which quickly spread on social media, fueled further panic as the BTC price fell below $95,000. However, both on-chain data and Saylor’s statement revealed that the sales claims were false.
When Arkham Intelligence data revealed that Strategy transferred 43,415 BTC ($4.26 billion) worth of assets to more than 100 new addresses today, the community panicked about the sale. As the allegations grew, Michael Saylor issued a brief statement:
“There is no truth to these rumors.”
Analysis by Arkham’s research team reveals that the movements were unrelated to the sale, but were part of the custodian change and wallet rotation process Strategy has been conducting over the past two weeks.
Over the past two weeks, the platform has detected regular transfers indicating the company is moving BTC from Coinbase Custody to a new custodian. Today’s significant activity is a continuation of this process.
According to the analysis, there may be three main reasons for transfers:
- Direct transfers from Coinbase Custody to the new custodian,
- Internal transfers made by the new custodian within its own security system,
- Wallet refresh operations are performed on the Coinbase side when the wallet becomes empty.
None of these movements mean that a BTC sale has occurred.
Experts note that large institutional Bitcoin holders occasionally perform wallet refreshes and custodian changes due to security and operational requirements. Strategy is among the companies that regularly perform these transactions.
*This is not investment advice.