Galaxy’s Head of Research, Alex Thorn, has refuted claims that Murad Mahmudov, a meme coin analyst, sold his SPX6900 (SPX) tokens to them. 

Reports alleged that Murad conducted the sale through over-the-counter (OTC) transactions to bypass on-chain activity.

Did Murad Really Sell His SPX Tokens?

According to the rumors circulating on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Murad offloaded $20 million worth of SPX tokens for $13 million. He bypassed on-chain transactions to avoid public scrutiny. 

Moreover, users noted that the situation extends beyond a simple token sale. The claims suggested that Galaxy acquired Murad’s seed phrase, granting them control over his wallets. 

“This isn’t just an OTC sale—it’s a full-scale, hidden liquidation,” one user wrote on X.

The rumors went further, alleging that Galaxy was liquidating Murad’s assets through private OTC deals while simultaneously hedging its position with short trades. These speculations were supposedly backed by leaked internal memos and chat logs from a Galaxy employee, purportedly confirming the private sale strategy.

However, Thorn was quick to shut down the rumors.

“This is fake,” Thorn stated.

In a statement on X, Thorn addressed the circulating photos, confirming they were forgeries. He pointed out that the ID badge featured in the images did not belong to him or his team and that the email groups shown were not legitimate distribution lists.

Thorn emphasized that the entire situation was a fabrication designed to mislead the public.

“This is truly false — you are being played by random meme coin scammers,” he added.

It’s important to note that Murad has been a vocal supporter of SPX, endorsing the meme coin multiple times in the past. His strong backing of the project made the recent claims all the more surprising. 

“SPX6900 will become the Biggest meme coin in World History,” Murad wrote in January.

However, his endorsements have also raised some eyebrows. Previously, Crypto sleuth ZachXBT’s investigation revealed that Murad used 11 separate wallets for his $24 million holdings, including SPX. His public promotions of the coin contributed to SPX’s value soaring and raised concerns about potential market manipulation.

Meanwhile, the rumors of Murad selling SPX had little impact on the token’s price. On the price front, SPX had already been struggling.

After a brief recovery last week, the token continued to depreciate. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.61, down 8.1% over the past day. The token’s monthly losses stood at 56.1%, reflecting a bearish sentiment in the market.

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has stated that while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has done well since its launch last year, it faces several challenges going forward. 

This assessment comes amid recent signs of turbulence in the broader Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) market.

Upcoming Challenges for IBIT Bitcoin ETF

Balchunas pointed to a crucial factor that could hinder IBIT’s continued growth: Bitcoin’s tendency to decline when stocks fall. This correlation presents a unique challenge for the Bitcoin ETF, as it could struggle to gain significant adoption compared to more traditional ETFs.

“IBIT did reach $50 billion in first year (it took VOO six years to hit that mark) so definitely one to watch but it would take a ton more adoption (flows), and you probably need a break in correlation with stocks,” Balchunas added.

Despite concerns about Bitcoin’s market volatility, recent 13F filings reveal a growing interest in IBIT. A 13F filing is a quarterly report mandated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for institutional investment managers overseeing more than $100 million in assets. 

It offers transparency into major players’ investment activities. All filings must be made public within 45 days of the quarter’s end. Therefore, the deadline for Q4 2024 was February 14, 2025.

Balchunas mentioned that IBIT had attracted 1,100 holders through 13F filings. The previous record for a first-year ETF was around 350 holders.

“For context, NUKZ, a pretty successful nuclear theme ETF launched same day as IBIT has 29 holders. Most newbies have under 10,” he said.

Notably, IBIT remains the largest Bitcoin ETF, holding 2.98% of the total supply. It has continued to attract substantial investments from major players, with the latest being Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Sovereign Wealth Fund. Last week, Mubadala invested $436 million into BlackRock’s ETF, becoming the seventh-largest holder.

From a broader perspective, institutional adoption of Bitcoin ETFs has seen a remarkable growth. The assets under management tripled in Q4, reaching $38 billion.

Yet, recent data shows that the momentum has slowed in 2025. Bitcoin ETFs saw their first week of net outflows last week. The weekly total net outflow reached over $585 million. Furthermore, the trend seems to be continuing.

On February 18, Bitcoin ETFs experienced $129 million in outflows. As BeInCrypto highlighted earlier, this could be due to investor caution following Jerome Powell’s rejection of rate cuts and ongoing concerns over high inflation.