Shiba Inu Whale Gives In After 2 Years, Dumps 14.5B SHIB at 83% Loss

A dormant investor holding a large amount of Shiba Inu has finally closed their position after nearly two years, accepting a substantial loss in the process.

On-chain data indicates that the wallet recently moved billions of Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens to crypto exchange OKX, effectively ending a long period of inactivity. The wallet bought the meme coin when it was in a strong bullish phase, hoping the trend would persist and bring outsized gains. However, it ended up being the top, with prices correcting drastically since then.

Key Points

• Arkham Intelligence shows that the wallet “0xbOe8” transferred roughly 14.5 billion SHIB to OKX on Sunday, effectively ending a long period of holding.
• The whale bought these SHIB tokens for $506,830 from Binance near the market peak in March 2024 of $0.00004567.
• On March 15, the address sold the tokens for $84,640, incurring an estimated loss of around $422,190, representing a staggering 83% portfolio decline.
• Since the March 2024 peak, the price of Shiba Inu has gradually declined, dropping 86% to its current value of $0.00000627.

Shiba Inu Whale Ends Two Years of Holding in 83% Loss

Blockchain tracking from Arkham Intelligence shows that the wallet “0xbOe8” transferred roughly 14.5 billion SHIB to OKX on Sunday. The address moved the stash to another wallet, “0x1c1B,” which then shifted the tokens to the OKX hot wallet at exactly 15:12 UTC on March 15.

Data shows that the whale bought these SHIB tokens for $506,830 near the market peak in March 2024. The wallet initially withdrew 14.5 billion tokens from Binance when SHIB was experiencing one of its strongest rallies of that year, reaching a high of $0.00004567.

However, the price of Shiba Inu has declined significantly since the 2024 peak. Arkham showed the address sold the tokens for $84,640, locking in a loss estimated at around $422,190. This marked a staggering 83% decline in the investor’s portfolio.

Interestingly, this happened despite the whale holding for an extended period. On-chain analysis shows that after that purchase, the wallet remained largely inactive for almost two years. Apart from occasional spam transfers, there were no meaningful transactions recorded during that period. 

SHIB’s Price Decline Since the 2024 Peak

For context, the Shiba Inu rally to $0.00004567 in March 2024 attracted significant speculative interest across the broader crypto market. This momentum emerged in the penultimate year of the typical four-year market cycle. As a result, buyers envisioned a repeat of previous events, in which prices rallied past prior highs to unprecedented levels.

However, that was not the case. Since that peak, the price of Shiba Inu has gradually declined, dropping 86% to its current market price of $0.00000627. This would have represented an 89% drop at its February low of $0.00000507.

The latest transaction illustrates how difficult it can be to hold volatile assets through extended market cycles. Although the investor held the token for nearly two years, the prolonged downturn ultimately resulted in a large realized loss when the wallet moved the position to OKX and possibly sold it.

Nonetheless, this was not the case for all Shiba Inu buyers. Reports show several users who have created life-changing wealth by holding the meme coin, with some analysts predicting a repeat in the coming weeks and months. This whale was just unfortunate that the broader altcoin market did not perform exceptionally, as in previous cycles.