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Category: Whale

  • Bhutan’s Bitcoin Reserves Eq. to 26.7% of its GDP

    • Bhutan has a GDP of $2.8 billion, ranking 175/196.
    • Bitcoin mining has helped it accumulate $750 million in Bitcoin, 26.7% of its GDP.
    • Bitcoins could help Bhutan increase its economic situation in multiple ways.
    • Acting as a template for several developing countries aiming to lift their economic condition.

    Bhutan, one of the few completely landlocked countries of the world, has done wonders that even larger countries could not do. It has mined approximately $750,000,000 worth of Bitcoin, something which stands at 26.7% of its GDP of $2.8 billion.

    For a smaller country amidst a global tariff war, this reserve might prove criticial in ensuring economic sustaininability for the country.

    The country stands as a shining example of how Bitcoin can help a country alleviate its economic sustainability with just one wise decision.

    Bhutan Accumulates 6000 Bitcoins Through Mining

    Bhutan's Bitcoin Holdings
    Bhutan’s Bitcoin Holdings, Source: Arkham Intelligence

    Bhutan has become one of the pioneering states to acquire Bitcoins through mining. Almost all of the 13k Bitcoins held by the Himalayan nation have been acquired via crypto mining, an ingenious way of acquiring Bitcoins with limited resources, something which even major countries were unable to do.

    However, Bhutan had an advantage here, being situated between the Himalayan mountains, it has abundant hydropower to generate electricity at low cost, a critical component required to mine Bitcoin.

    While other countries remain locked in their legislation around Bitcoin, Bhutan has shown the world that taking action is far more rewarding than endless gossip in the name of policy making.

    The entirety of the Bitcoin portfolio of Bhutan has been held under the name of the King, i.e., the Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk.

    Can Bitcoin Help Bhutan Improve Its Economic Situation?

    Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings of $750 million are significant when you compare it with its national GDP of $2.8 billion.

    A Bitcoin reserve that is 26.7% of the GDP is one of the best things to happen to any country. Further, since the price of Bitcoin grows rapidly, beating inflation by a huge margin, continuing to hold Bitcoins would help the nation increase its economic situation very rapidly.

    How Bitcoin Helped El Salvador?

    Just holding the available Bitcoins would help Bhutan avoid any economic crisis in the near or distant future, like it does for El Salvador, a country that needs $1.4 billion for its government reforms. El Salvador, too, has been accumulating Bitcoin, and these holdings now stand at $550 million, just above one-third of the amount it needs for government reforms.

    Now, even if the IMF rejects the loan, it can easily monetize the Bitcoin reserves through lending or even using it as collateral and help its government in at least a partial manner.

    Note: El Salvador needs the $1.4 billion IMF loan over 40 years, which means it can easily use its Bitcoin reserves as collateral and raise money from elsewhere.

    How can Bhutan Monetize its BTC Without Selling?

    Bhutan has multiple ways to monetize its Bitcoin without selling it.

    • First, it could lend it at a suitable rate and earn an extra income on Bitcoin that is essentially idle.
    • Second, it could easily raise funds by using Bitcoin as collateral and using those funds to boost economic activity in the country.

  • Semler Sci. to Make 13th BTC Purchase with $500M Capital

    • Semler Scientific, a healthcare firm, is about to make its 13th and largest Bitcoin purchase of $500 million.
    • The company has applied to the US SEC to approve its $500 million fundraising (via debt) to purchase Bitcoins.
    • The SEC is likely to approve this application as it did with GameStop.
    • If the purchase goes through, Semler Scientific would make its 13th Bitcoin purchase, taking its net holdings to roughly 2900 Bitcoins.

    Semler Scientific Looks to Raise $500 Million via Debt

    Semler has filed for a fundraising approval (via debt) at the SEC, which, if approved, would allow Semler Scientific to raise $500 million.

    Though this debt seems a risky affair for Bitcoin purchase, it has been done effectively in the case of Strategy and Metaplanet, with both of these pioneers enjoying significant yield in the current markets despite the downturn.

    However, Semler’s yield is a little less and was in the negative territory for Q1, 2025, however, the price of Bitcoin has gone above its net buying price of $78k.

    As of today, Semler might be at a 5% positive yield.

    Semler seems to be inspired by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which at present owns roughly 530k Bitcoins and enjoys a 25% yield even when the markets are at their bottom.

    Semler Scientific’s Bitcoin Purchase History

    Previously, Semler has purchased Bitcoin 12 times starting on May 28, 2024. To date, it has made 12 such purchases, with the largest to date being done in its 11th round of acquisition, where it purchased 871 Bitcoins for roughly $88.5 million.

    Below is a list of all of its Bitcoin purchase history.

    1. May 28, 2024: First purchase of 581 Bitcoins for $40 million. Bitcoin became its primary treasury reserve asset.
    2. June 6, 2024: 247 Bitcoins for $17 million, which brought their total holdings to 828 Bitcoins.
    3. June 28, 2024: 49 Bitcoins for $3 million, total holdings at 877 Bitcoins.
    4. August 5, 2024: 52 Bitcoins for $3 million, total holdings at 929 Bitcoins.
    5. August 26, 2024: 83 Bitcoins for $5 million, reaching a total of 1,012 Bitcoins.
    6. September 2024: The company purchased 6 Bitcoins for $0.4 million, with a total of 1,018 Bitcoins held by the end of the quarter 3 (Jul-Sep).
    7. November 4, 2024: 40 Bitcoins for $2.6 million, total 1,058 Bitcoins.
    8. November 6–15, 2024: 215 Bitcoins for $17.7 million, net holdings at 1,273 Bitcoins.
    9. November 18–22, 2024: 297 Bitcoins for $29.1 million, total at 1,570 Bitcoins.
    10. November 25–December 4, 2024: 303 Bitcoins for $29.3 million, net holdings at 1,873 Bitcoins.
    11. January 11–February 3, 2025: 871 Bitcoins were acquired for $88.5 million, total holdings at 3,192 Bitcoins.
    12. January 13, 2025: 237 Bitcoins for $23.3 million, total holdings at 2,321 Bitcoins.

    If the latest purchase goes through in the current markets, which is expected to happen within April. Assuming Bitcoin is at $90k by the end of April 2025, Semler would acquire roughly 560 Bitcoins, bringing its total to around 2900 Bitcoins.

    The company has been stacking Bitcoins in a similar way to Metaplanet, keeping its purchase volumes low, unlike Strategy, which typically buys in multiple billions of dollars.

    How Much Bitcoin Does Semler Scientific Hold?

    As per the calculations done in the previous section, Semler Scientific holds roughly 2,321 Bitcoins.

  • Metaplanet to Make 11th Bitcoin Purchase in 2025, Reserves at 4525 BTC

    • Metaplanet makes 11th Bitcoin purchase this year and could buy approximately 115 to 120 Bitcoins.
    • The Japanese asset manager has a reserve of 4525 Bitcoins till date.
    • Metaplanet has been one of the top Bitcoin buyers and the second largest corporate owner of Bitcoins after MicroStrategy (excluding ETFs).

    Metaplanet has accelerated its Bitcoin acquisition after Strategy announced its latest purchase the Japanese asset manager would make its 11th purchase in 2025 worth at $10 million and 4th purchase in April 2025.

    The asset manager has been buying Bitcoins mostly through debt funding but also via selling cash secured Bitcoin options in the derivatives market.

    4th Purchase This Month

    Metaplanet had made a purchase of 319 Bitcoins at $26.3 million on 14 April 2025. This purchase would be the 4th one after it had made the following purchases this month:

    • 160 Bitcoins on April 2 ($13.3 million)
    • 616 Bitcoins on April 4 ($91.7 million)
    • 319 Bitcoins on April 14 ($26.3 million)

    Metplanet’s All Bitcoin Purchases This Year

    1. February 17, 2025: 269.43 BTC
      • Cost: $26.3 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: ¥12,243,936 (~$80,674)
    2. February 25, 2025: 135 BTC
      • Cost: $13 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: ~$96,185
    3. March 3, 2025: 156 BTC
      • Cost: $13.4 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: $85,890
    4. March 5, 2025: 497 BTC
      • Cost: ~$43.9 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC is $88,448, approx.
    5. March 12, 2025: 162 BTC
      • Cost is estimated to be at $82k per BTC, Total at $13.2 million approximately
      • Average Price per BTC: Unclear for this purchase as the funds were secured via Bonds Issue and Rights Issue
    6. March 18, 2025: 150 BTC
      • Cost: Not specified (funded through bond issuances)
      • Average Price per BTC: Not specified
    7. March 24, 2025: 150 BTC
      • Cost: $12.6 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: ~$83,801
    8. April 2, 2025: 160 BTC
      • Cost: $13.3 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: ¥12.5 million (~$83,264)
    9. April 4, 2025: 696 BTC
      • Cost: $91.7 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: Unclear as they were acquired through selling cash-secured BTC Put Options
    10. April 14, 2025: 319 BTC
      • Cost: $26.3 million, approx.
      • Average Price per BTC: ¥12,849,780 (~$82,549)

    Total Reserves Now

    At present, without the 11th purchase Metaplanet has 4,525 Bitcoin in its reserves. The lastest purchase worth $10 million could bring approximately 115 to 120 Bitcoins taking its net reserves to 4,640 to 4645 Bitcoins.

    Why are Bitcoin Corporates Accelerating Their Buy?

    Top corporates have been buying Bitcoin because of the prospects of a Fed rate cut in May 2025. Following a bad liquidity crisis in the first quarter of 2000 and 25 the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by at least 0.25% and at Max by 0.5%.

    Our expectation suggests that a rate cut above 0.25% could easily push Bitcoin towards $100k or greater, which makes the current price ($84k at press time) highly attractive.

    Crypto native whales too have been buying Bitcoin in record numbers and taking them off exchanges.

  • Smart Whales Buying Ethereum While 71% Retailers Think It as Loser

    A survey conducted by crypto chart expert Ali Martinez shows that the crypto markets overwhelmingly think that Ethereum is the biggest loser in the 2025 crypto market corrections.

    The reason for the overwhelming response seems to be Ethereum’s fall from $4000 on Dec 6, 2025, to $1400 today i.e., April 9, 2025.

    However, despite the fall, Ethereum continues to lead the markets in all fundamental factors, be it on-chain TVL, stablecoins, fee revenue, or dApp statistics. Ethereum beats all chains multiple times over. This is true even for Bitcoin, which only managed to generate 33% of revenue as compared to Ethereum.

    This could be the reason why crypto whales have been accumulating Ethereum at aggressive levels. Crypto reporting platform on X.com, CryptoGoos presented data for whale accumulation (via Cryptoquant).

    Summarizing Ethereum’s Strong Fundamentals

    Despite its price performance in the last three to four months, Ethereum is still the strongest blockchain in all of crypto markets based on our research.

    Central Role in Crypto Markets

    Ethereum has been the innovator and guiding beacon in the defined markets. Clearly, it has become a leader as DeFi applications and use cases grew.

    At present, Ethereum directly has a $50 billion TVL and $120 billion of on-chain stablecoins, far greater than any other blockchain. It indirectly supports at least 75% of the DeFi markets by acting as a reference standard for chains like BNB, Tron and Berachain.

    Highest On-Chain Revenue

    Last year Ethereum managed to generate an on-chain fee revenue of $2.5 billion while others remained far below it the second highest revenue was generated by the Tron Blockchain at $2.1 billion and it even beat Bitcoin by a factor of 300%, as Bitcoin generated a revenue of nearly $750 million.

    Other revenue sources like ENS domains also contribute to Ethereum’s fross revenue.

    Supports Entire Layer-2 and Layer-3 Network

    Ethereum places central role in the DeFi markets supporting over 60 blockchains, more than 140 Layer-2 and Layer-3 solutions and several other applications. Almost all of the DeFi markets either depend on Ethereum directly or are compatible with the EVM virtual machine.

    Analyzing ETH’s Fall. Will it Recover?

    Ethereum’s 63% fall over the last one quarter clearly has spooked the market. At present Ethereum is already in a oversold territory and could gain clearly from this stage. At Blockchain Lab, we believe that Ethereum has already formed its bottom at $1400, based on its recent price behavior.

    Ethereum Price Behavior in Last 12 Months
    Ethereum Price Behavior in Last 12 Months, Source: CMC

    Coming on to Ethereum ETFs, the underperformance is due to a regulatory reason and is completely solvavle.

    Ethereum ETFs are only disliked in the ETF markets because of their inability to provide staking benefits, a critical source of income for Ethereum holders in the spot markets. If these Etherium ETFs under Donald Trumps Administration are allowed to re file and provides taking benefits we might see a sudden demand for them in the ETF markets.

    Our analysis suggests that it might recover very soon in the crypto markets and this recovery will be aided by a complete change in crypto market regulations around the world. In the long term we expect ETH to establish itself as the largest cryptocurrency possibly beating Bitcoin by the turn of this decade.