Bitcoin Whale Owen Gunden Moves $245 Million to Kraken, Sparks Market Buzz

Onchain Lens, a blockchain tracker, showed that early Bitcoin whale Owen Gunden had transferred 2,401 BTC, valued at approximately $245 million to the Kraken exchange. The massive deposit had been made about 3 hours earlier when Wu Blockchain announced about the same on November 13, 2025.

Following this transaction, Gunden is still holding 2,499 BTC worth about $259 million on his wallet. Together, his portfolio in Bitcoin has over 4,900 BTC, which is over half a billion dollars at present market rates.

Who Is Owen Gunden?

Owen Gunden is referred to as one of the early adopters of Bitcoin, or a Bitcoin OG. There are indications that he had been a BTC hoarder even earlier in 2013 when the price was below 100. His on-chain actions have attracted attention in multiple occasions over their magnitude and timing. Only one week before, November 7, Gunden sold 500 BTC, or approximately $52 million, to Kraken. Such back-to-back deals signify the gradual transfers which are probably to minimize the market effect or to meet the liquidity requirements.

The deposit to Kraken was verified by Onchain Lens, a blockchain analytics tool. The sale was spotted at around 04:13 UTC and confirmed using the wallet activity of Gunden. The value of transfer values puts the price of Bitcoin at around 102,000 USD per BTC which is in line with the market rates at the time. The inflow information of Kraken after the deposit showed a noticeable spike, which further helps to credit the transaction.

The 2,499 BTC that Gunden used to address is an indication that he still has a large stake, which represents a sign of confidence in the future worth of Bitcoin even after selling off part of it.

Market Situation and Response

The movement is against a turbulent trading week of Bitcoin. Bitcoin, which had slipped below the following levels in the 100,000-103,000 range, recovered at about 102,000-103,000. Whale trading such as that of Gunden tends to have a short-term impact on sentiment and when traders monitor exchanges with massive sell orders. Analysts observe that such deposits may indicate selling purpose or strategic placement. Nonetheless, the slow rate of transfer by Gunden is an indication of a careful style that would reduce the slippage.

Understanding the Scale

The transaction of $ 245m is one of the biggest single Bitcoin deposits of Q4 2025. Gunden has an influence due to his ability to control close to 0.025 percent of the circulating supply of Bitcoin with a total holding of a little bit above half a billion dollars.

Statistics indicate that the notoriety of the TVL in the staking business at Gate has recently reached three hundred million dollars, whereas the decision of Gunden to Kraken almost equates to that value – demonstrating the scale of the action of individual whales in the market today. When Gunden had invested this in a hypothetical annual yield of 3% it would amount to approximately 7.3 million yearly. On the contrary, the Kraken move indicates possible liquidity or portfolio rebalancing.

Institutional traders and high-net-worth investors have grown to prefer Kraken as an exchange. It is a rational decision to transact such a large transaction due to its high liquidity level and excellent compliance criteria. The systems in the exchange are able to take in massive inflows with little inconvenience, which diminish chances of instantaneous price decline. Nevertheless, analysts are going to pay more attention to order books to observe any indications of huge selling orders that will exert short-term pressure on prices.