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Reports say large Bitcoin holders have stepped up activity on Binance, and traders are watching closely. Volume from the biggest transfers has risen in a short time. That change could matter for price moves, or it could mean nothing at all.

Bitcoin’s price has softened recently, trading below $70,000 as markets digest a blend of macro uncertainty and geopolitical cues. Reports note that ongoing tensions, shifting monetary views, and risk aversion have kept traders cautious, with crypto’s movement increasingly tied to broader financial sentiment.

In this environment, Bitcoin’s swings have been sharper than usual, reflecting not only internal market dynamics but also reactions to global headlines.

Elsewhere, mixed signals from traditional markets have played a role. Some geopolitical developments seem to calm broader risk appetite, weighing on speculative assets like Bitcoin, while other flashpoints have briefly jostled crypto prices as traders reassess exposure.

This push‑and‑pull has left Bitcoin’s near‑term outlook unsettled, with investors watching key support levels for signs of stability or renewed downside stress.

Whale Inflow Ratio Surges on Binance Amid Market Correction

“Between February 02 and 15, the ratio rose sharply from 0.4 to 0.62, signaling a significant resurgence of whale activity on Binance.” – By @Darkfost_Coc pic.twitter.com/LrNu5cRcka

— CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) February 17, 2026

Whale Inflow Ratio Shows A Spike

According to CryptoQuant data, the metric that compares volume from the 10 largest Bitcoin deposits to total inflows climbed from about 0.40 to roughly 0.62 in two weeks.

That is a clear jump. It means a bigger share of coins coming onto the exchange are coming from very large wallets. Market observers often see that as a sign that major players are preparing to act.

They may be readying to sell. They may be moving coins to hedge or to trade into other tokens. The point is their behavior now carries more weight than before.

Who Is Moving Coins

Reports have disclosed that one large wallet tied to Garrett Jin, nicknamed the “Hyperunit whale,” moved nearly 10,000 BTC toward Binance around the same time other big transfers appeared.

Multiple independent addresses also sent large sums, which suggests this was not a one-off event by a single actor. When many big holders move at once, the odds of a bigger market reaction rise.

Traders on both sides may tighten their positions. Liquidity can dry up fast when a cluster of large orders hits an exchange order book.

Possible Outcomes And What To Watch

Some of the inflows into Binance could be destined for custody, not sale. Some might fund margin trades or options hedges.

Reports say rising whale deposits do not automatically equal immediate selling pressure. Still, the risk of increased volatility is real.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Peter Thiel and entities tied to Founders Fund have fully exited ETHZilla, the publicly traded Ethereum treasury play that once marketed itself as a proxy bet on corporate ETH accumulation. A Schedule 13G/A filed Tuesday shows the reporting group finished 2025 with no remaining common shares, wiping out a position that had been closely watched across both crypto and small-cap equity circles.

Thiel Exists Ethereum Treasury Play

The amended filing, dated Feb. 17, 2026, is unusually blunt on the current footprint: “Aggregate amount… 0.00. Percent of class… 0.0%. Ownership of 5 percent or less of a class.” The positions are reported as of Dec. 31, 2025, meaning the exit was completed by year-end.

PETER THIEL EXITS ETHEREUM DAT “ETHZILLA” AMID $ETHZ TOKENIZED JET ENGINE FOCUS: FILING pic.twitter.com/nnMeT32LQ4

— Aggr News (@AggrNews) February 18, 2026

That zeroed-out line item is a sharp contrast to what Thiel-related vehicles disclosed just a quarter earlier. In a prior Schedule 13G/A reporting holdings as of Sept. 30, 2025, Thiel was listed with 928,389 shares beneficially owned, representing 5.6% of the class at that time, with additional blocks attributed to Founders Fund entities. The same filing noted the company’s 1-for-10 reverse stock split effective Oct. 20, 2025, with reported share counts adjusted accordingly.

ETHZilla’s story arc matters because it tried to translate the Bitcoin treasury template into an ETH-native wrapper at a moment when public-market vehicles were being pitched as liquid, leverable on-ramps to digital asset exposure. Thiel’s initial involvement, widely reported as a 7.5% stake disclosed in August 2025, helped legitimize that pitch, at least briefly.

More recently, ETHZilla has been signaling a pivot away from a pure ETH-treasury identity and toward tokenized real-world assets, including aviation. In an 8-K tied to a Feb. 12 press release, the company said its subsidiary launched “Eurus Aero Token I,” describing it as “a tokenized real-world asset instrument” that gives exposure to aircraft engines on lease “through tradable digital tokens representing contractual revenue rights.”

The sequencing leaves traders with an uncomfortable, unresolved question: did Founders Fund’s exit precede (and implicitly front-run) the strategy shift, or was it simply a portfolio cleanup after the initial “ETH treasury” narrative cooled?

On X, one commentator framed Thiel’s timing as part of a broader pattern, though several of the post’s claims go beyond what’s in the SEC filing. The account @treebook78 called Thiel a “master at sensing crises,” writing that he “dodged this current dip too,” and arguing he’s an “exit master” who gets out early when bubbles or stress build.

“Back in 2022, he posted diamond hands on SNS telling people to hold Bitcoin forever, but then he quietly sold everything and avoided the Luna crash and FTX collapse (as I recall),” @treebook78 wrote.

At press time, Ethereum traded at $1,984.