Whales are changing the game behind the scenes, but most people are still staring at the price fluctuations on their screens.

Last Monday, an old trader complained to me: "This market is completely crazy. Bitcoin inflows into exchanges keep increasing, which should mean selling pressure is building up, but instead, the price keeps rising." This confusion is quite common among retail investors.

In fact, the crypto market of 2025 is undergoing a fundamental transformation—those still using old logic to interpret on-chain data have long been left behind by the times.

Institutional investors are rewriting the supply and demand equation for Bitcoin. And this is just the beginning.

**Why Traditional Beliefs Are Failing**

The old market rule was simple: increased inflows to exchanges = increased selling pressure = price drops. But this theory has been thoroughly shattered this year.

When Bitcoin broke through $123,000 in mid-July to hit a new all-time high, the weekly net inflow into US Bitcoin spot ETFs reached $4.39 billion, setting a record. Massive capital poured in, but selling did not surge; instead, the price continued to soar.

Why? Because these inflows are not for short-term trading. They are for accumulation.

**The True Intent Behind the Numbers**

Looking at what listed companies are doing makes it clear—at the beginning of the year, only 89 companies held Bitcoin; now that number has skyrocketed to 124. These companies together hold over 816,000 BTC, with a book value of about $85 billion.

BlackRock alone holds 620,000 BTC, worth $58.51 billion. How outrageous is this number? It’s almost approaching Satoshi Nakamoto’s holdings.

Institutions are not trading; they are strategically positioning.