Was the largest BTC sale in history linked to a 2011 exchange hack?
A historic, over-the-counter sale of more than 80,000 bitcoin (BTC) last week captured the attention of crypto social media. The sale of the coins, which, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, might have originated from the 2011 MyBitcoin exchange hack, represents the largest notional sale of BTC by a single individual in history. Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital handled the sale and said his client was selling for estate planning reasons. Novogratz didn’t comment further on X about the transaction nor on a CNBC appearance shortly after the press release. Arkham Intelligence didn’t confirm the MyBitcoin theory, but its blockchain analysts did note that the coins originated in April–May 2011 and had only transferred into eight new wallets as of early July 2025. The 80,000-BTC amount roughly matches the amount that pseudonymous MyBitcoin executive Tom Williams admitted to losing in 2011: about 51% of 154,406 BTC. Wikipedia contributors also estimated M...