Two multi-million-dollar fund movements were recently recorded from two contrasting sides. North Korean cybercrime syndicate Lazarus Group moved 121.5 BTC worth $7.74 million, according to on-chain tracker Lookonchain. The transaction was logged roughly an hour before the report was published.
At the same time, market pressure did not originate solely from hacker wallets. Institutional players also weighed on the altcoin market, specifically the HYPE token. Multicoin Capital deposited 137,100 HYPE, or roughly $7.51 million, to Coinbase Prime over the past 10 hours. Nine hours prior, Bitwise also transferred 22,463 HYPE worth $1.23 million to the same exchange.
This combined maneuver generated $8.74 million in institutional selling pressure from just two entities across a 10-hour window.
Not Just Tracking the Stock Market
The moves by these two institutions coincided with an ongoing price slump. HYPE tumbled 8% over the last seven trading sessions, making it the worst-performing asset among major tokens. Other altcoins suffered a similar fate: XRP dropped 6%, Solana weakened by 5%, and Dogecoin corrected 4% to the $0.07 level. Bitcoin itself posted a 3% decline over the past week. Amid this sea of red, BNB was the sole major cryptocurrency to still log a weekly gain, albeit modest.
An analysis from CoinDesk highlighted that the weakness hitting these altcoins reflects liquidity depletion rather than a pure reaction to equities. This dynamic is evidenced by Bitcoin’s relatively resilient price action against turbulence across global stock exchanges in recent days.
Immune to Tech Stock Sell-Off
Equity markets have indeed been navigating a turbulent week. Bitcoin proved unfazed by the evaporation of $797 billion in market capitalization from America’s mega-cap tech giants last Thursday. Bitcoin’s price also showed little reaction to a two-day consecutive slide in South Korean equities.
This market turmoil was triggered by a wave of tech earnings reports. Samsung reported a 250-fold surge in chip division operating profit fueled by AI memory shortages, yet its shares edged up just 2%. SK Hynix met a harsher outcome: earnings skyrocketed 557%, but its stock plunged 17% under the weight of sky-high market expectations. On Wall Street, Meta shares dropped 8% following soft revenue guidance. The sole bright spot came from Microsoft, which rallied nearly 9% in after-hours trading on its fastest cloud revenue expansion in four years. This helped Nasdaq 100 futures climb 1% after the index slipped into technical correction territory last Wednesday.
Amid waves of altcoin liquidations and quiet maneuvers by hacker groups, Bitcoin’s resilience delivers its own signal. Capital may be shifting from altcoins to exchanges, but crypto’s premier asset continues to demonstrate its ability to weather the storm.
Reported via @lookonchain on X.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
