Nearly $5 billion in Bitcoin left major exchange wallets in just 30 minutes on Saturday, right as the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran under what the Pentagon is calling Operation Epic Fury.
Arkham Intelligence data captured it in real time. Binance’s hot wallet led with 15,944 BTC ($1.05 billion). Bybit followed at $897 million, Bitfinex at $814 million, then Kraken, Coinbase, Wintermute, and FalconX each pushing hundreds of millions out within the same window.
Over 154,000 traders were liquidated. Total losses reached $522 million in 24 hours.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed a “preemptive strike” on Iran. President Trump followed with a Truth Social video, stating the US had begun “major combat operations.”
Iran fired back. The IRGC confirmed strikes on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and military sites in Kuwait and the UAE. Explosions hit Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where one person was killed by debris from intercepted missiles. The UAE shut its airspace.
Saturday’s sell-off echoes a pattern now seen three times.
On October 10, 2025, on-chain analysts flagged that Wintermute moved $700 million into Binance hours before $19 billion in leveraged longs were wiped out in 90 minutes. That crash coincided with Trump’s 100% tariff announcement on China. Two weeks ago, another $2.5 billion in BTC was sold within 30 minutes, again traced to Binance, Coinbase, and Wintermute wallets.
Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy previously dismissed the October accusations, calling it a “flash crash on mega leveraged market on illiquid Friday night driven by macro news.”
Former CFTC regulator Salman Banaei took a different view: “Whether you love or hate crypto, there should be an investigation by regulators into Oct 10, 2025.”
No exchange has commented on today’s outflows.
Bitcoin is now 49% below its October 2025 all-time high of $126,000. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is now at 14.
Key support sits at $63,100. A break below opens the path to $60,000, where Deribit’s largest put position holds over 5,200 BTC in open interest.
Also Read: Is the Crypto Bottom In? Jane Street Sued and 2 More Signals Flagged
History suggests a bounce. After Iran’s April 2024 missile strike, BTC fell to $61,000 and recovered to new highs. After Israel’s June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, BTC dropped to $103,000 before climbing above $125,000 by October.
But this market was already fragile going in. US spot Bitcoin ETFs flipped to net sellers this month, according to CryptoQuant. The next moves are currently unknown.
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