Bitcoin Slips to Around $80,700 After BlackRock-Linked Wallets Send $355 Million to Coinbase Prime

Wallets tied to BlackRock's spot crypto ETFs moved 3,215 BTC, worth about $262.4 million, to Coinbase Prime on Oct. 23, according to on-chain records. The same wallets sent 38,882 ETH, worth about $93.2 million. The total came to roughly $355.6 million in two hours.

The transfer landed one day after spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $635.6 million in net outflows on Oct. 22. Bitcoin fell 3.3% that day to $81,429.

What the price did

The transfer did not trigger a crash. Bitcoin traded near $81,858 on Oct. 23, up 0.3% over 24 hours. Ethereum held near $2,408.

By today, Oct. 24, Bitcoin was around $80,650 to $80,760, down roughly 1% on the day. Ethereum was near $2,375, XRP near $1.28 and Solana near $102. Several altcoins fell faster than Bitcoin, pushing Bitcoin's share of total crypto market value to about 60.05%.

Leveraged traders took a hit too. Roughly $87 million to $91 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated over 24 hours. About $79 million of that was longs, against only about $8 million in shorts, according to one liquidation tracker.

Selling signal or bookkeeping

Crypto traders tend to read a big deposit to an exchange as a precursor to selling. One post on OKX's social platform on Oct. 24 argued exactly that. It said the transfer, combined with the ETF outflows, "indicates institutions are indeed reducing positions ahead of the FOMC," and called the pressure at the $81,000 level "not light."

The same post conceded that Coinbase Prime is an institutional trading desk and that a deposit could be a market-making allocation rather than a dump. Analysts at 24/7 Wall St. raised another possibility: the transfer may be a paper trail for sales that already occurred.

That second reading fits the timeline. Outflows of $635.6 million on Oct. 22 came the day before the transfer, and BlackRock's IBIT alone lost roughly $254 million that session. A transfer the next day does not by itself show new selling.

The records show coins moving. They do not show a sale, a buyer or a price.

Oil, yields and a Fed meeting

The crypto-specific data is thin. The bigger pressure is macro.

Brent crude settled Friday at $116.72 a barrel after briefly topping $117. West Texas Intermediate closed at $103.27. Commercial vessels still face security threats in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration maintains a naval blockade on Iranian oil exports.

Higher energy prices feed inflation, and inflation limits how much the Federal Reserve can ease. Captain Altcoin, a crypto analysis site, argues that sustained crude strength has often coincided with weaker Bitcoin momentum. That is a correlation argument, not proof that oil is driving today's move.

There is a counterpoint on the supply side. The Wall Street Journal reported that Persian Gulf oil exports have surpassed prewar levels, helped by an improvised shipping system under U.S. protection that is moving tankers through Iranian attacks.

The bond market has been volatile. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.36% on Oct. 7, the highest since April 2002. On Thursday it fell about 19 basis points intraday, the biggest one-day drop in three years.

Breitbart Business Digest attributes the drop to worries that parts of the AI-investment complex are overextended, especially junk-rated bonds backing highly leveraged tech firms. It cites GMO's Ben Inker and John Pease, who argued demand for fresh AI capital could outstrip supply. The same column notes the 10-year yield is still near 5%.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh and the Federal Open Market Committee meet next week. Breitbart reports that the fed funds futures market is pricing a 90% chance the Fed keeps rates unchanged at that meeting and a 78% chance of a hike in December.

Iran diplomacy

President Trump has raised the possibility of more strikes on Iran after the November midterms. No new operation has been announced.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that the agency has completed much of the preparation needed to verify Iran's nuclear activities if Washington and Tehran strike a deal. He cited support for the talks from Pakistan, Qatar, Oman and Egypt. No agreement authorizing inspections has been announced. Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Moscow next week.

Ethereum's upgrade hits a delay

Separately, Ethereum core developers postponed the Glamsterdam fork on the Hoodi testnet, which had been scheduled for Oct. 26. They made the decision on All Core Developers Execution call #248.

The reason is a security finding. ChainSecurity published analysis on Oct. 13 on how the proposed gas rules in EIP-8037 interact with EIP-8038. On Oct. 23, the firm said it had found 13 real-world smart contracts that could be affected and was coordinating responsible disclosure with the projects.

The researcher known as pcaversaccio called the risks "serious" in an Oct. 21 GitHub comment and pushed for a reassessment. Hoodi has no new date, and the mainnet timetable is open. ETH holders do not need to take any action.

The next concrete tests are the Fed's decision next week and whether Coinbase Prime transfers from the same wallets continue. Developers have not set a new Hoodi date.