Bitcoin is showing some resilience to the ongoing fallout from US President Donald Trump's trade policies, but it remains vulnerable to macroeconomic headwinds and sustained selling pressure from major holders.
Bitcoin Whales, Miners Sell Assets Amid Macro Market Pressure
23 February 2026 - 14:28 CET
On 22 Feb, the flagship cryptocurrency tumbled more than 5% to briefly trade below $65,000 before staging a moderate recovery to trade around $66,200 as of 13:00 UTC on 23 Feb.
While the quick rebound might be viewed as a sign of underlying market strength, traders are increasingly focused on broader geopolitical realities rather than short-term price action.
Chart
(Source: Trading View)
ETFs bleed as crypto divergence grows
One of the oldest correlations in the digital asset space is its entanglement with traditional risk assets such as equities, specifically US tech stocks.
Generally, during periods of economic stability, traders flock to risk-on assets to chase higher returns. When equities rise, crypto usually follows - but that relationship appears to be weakening.
On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 and broader US equities marched higher while Bitcoin and the wider crypto market struggled to gain traction. This divergence is supported by fund flow data from the US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which show that investors are pulling capital out of the regulated products for the fifth consecutive week.
Last week alone, investors withdrew nearly $316mn from Bitcoin ETFs, with BlackRock's IBIT taking the brunt of the outflows according to data from CoinGlass. Ether-linked products also suffered, losing $123mn as ETH repeatedly failed to break above the $2,000 threshold.
Macro uncertainty drives whale liquidations
Large crypto holders are rapidly readjusting their portfolios.
According to CryptoQuant, these whales recently accounted for two-thirds of all Bitcoin flowing into crypto exchanges. This metric indicates that the largest holders are currently the most active sellers in the market.
On the macro front, escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran are causing traders to move towards traditional risk-free assets. The prospect of a broader regional conflict is prompting large holders to offload their digital assets to raise cash and reduce exposure.
Adding to the market's liquidity concerns, large-scale Bitcoin miners are reallocating their resources towards more profitable sectors. Notable listed miners such as Bitdeer are converting their mining operations into data centres as they face mounting shareholder pressure to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom.
They are going beyond a small pivot to AI, and are actively liquidating their mined Bitcoin inventory to fund the costly transition, as Sandmark previously reported.
Miners are an essential component of the Bitcoin network and have historically been among its most committed long-term holders. If both whales and miners continue to sell their reserves at this pace, the asset could face further downward pressure and further test its claims to be digital gold.
