Key Highlights
- Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallet loses $20 billion in 10 days as Bitcoin crashes
- This comes after the cryptocurrency market saw one of the historic liquidations, wiping out $19.3 billion
- On the flip side, a crypto whale earned $192 million by betting against the market last week
Amid the turmoil in the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin’s price continues to fall, even Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is not immune to the market’s brutal downturn as he lost a staggering $20 billion in just ten days.
SATOSHI NAKAMOTO IS DOWN $20 BILLION
Satoshi Nakamoto’s wealth ATH was 10 days ago on the 7th October 2025. His holdings have declined in value by $20 Billion since then.
He is currently the 15th richest individual in the world, above Alice Walton and Michael Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/r87nzt3Ikw
— Arkham (@arkham) October 17, 2025
Why Bitcoin Is Falling
The latest crash is triggered amid geopolitical tension between the two superpowers, the U.S. and China. The cryptocurrency market has been in a sharp downturn since last week, with the total market capitalization dropping from around $4.3 trillion to approximately $3.63 trillion. This is around a 15% decline; however, some altcoins experienced catastrophic drops.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell from a peak of $126,000 on October 7 to $104,782 on October 17. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency has partially recovered and is trading at around $107,367.98 with a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion.
Other altcoins like Ethereum and Solana are also down by 14% and 22.76% respectively.
Experts believe that this was not a gradual correction but a rapid “flash crash” event that escalated into intense selling pressure.
Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese goods, especially on tech exports and rare earth minerals. This sudden announcement has sparked global risk-off sentiment. This hit risk assets like the crypto sector as many investors are expecting large economic fallout, inflation spikes, and supply chain disruptions.
When Trump declared a trade war against China, the market was overleveraged with record open interest in futures/perpetual contracts. A small initial drop triggered automated liquidations. In the massive historic liquidation, it wiped out $19.3 billion in hours on October 10-11, the largest 24-hour event in crypto history.
Not just this, the crypto market has witnessed other liquidations, which total worth more than $1.2 billion. According to Coinglass, long positions are responsible for the large traction of the liquidation with $711.24 million, while shorts comprised $308.30 million of the losses.
The recent market crash sparked a wave of profit-taking and fear-driven selling. After the initial price drop, alarming headlines and social media chatter spread panic, causing small-scale investors to sell their holdings in a rush.
At the same time, other investors chose to lock in the market. This situation was worsened by the fact that the crash occurred over a weekend, a period known for thin trading volumes that can amplify price swings.
On-chain data reveals differing behaviors among major cryptocurrencies during the sell-off. Ethereum experienced particularly heavy selling, while Bitcoin was perceived by many as a more reliable “blue-chip” asset and held its value relatively better.
Whale Earned $192 Million by Betting Against the Market
The data also confirmed that large-scale investors, known as “whales,” were actively placing bets against the market through short positions, which further contributed to the downward momentum.
A whale, who reportedly earned $192 million by betting against the market last week, has re-entered the fray with another massive short position.
Using the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, the whale opened a leveraged short on Bitcoin worth $163 million. This move signals their belief that the market’s recent turmoil is not yet over and that Bitcoin’s price has further to fall.
According to on-chain data, this new bet is a highly leveraged short position valued at approximately $209 million.
