According to a recent report by Fortune, which cites data from prominent blockchain sleuth Chainalysis, roughly 1.8 million ($121 billion) of Bitcoin is stored in wallets that have been inactive for more than a decade.
Dormant coins account for 8.5% of Bitcoin's 19.7 million circulating supply.
It is unclear what percentage of cryptocurrencies is lost forever, but the report suggests that the total number of such coins should stabilize around 1.5 million.
Earlier this month, for instance, a Satoshi-era whale woke up after an entire decade of inactivity with $115 million.
Yuri MolchanWhen wallets become active again after a long period of time, some assume that they might want to take profits after a price rally.
However, according to the report, there is no direct correlation between the activation of long-dormant wallets and substantial price moves.
Interestingly enough, Chainalysis has noted that old wallets tend to be activated at a rather predictable pace. The vast majority of such wallets do not usually make headlines due to their small size. Ninety-nine percent of all wallets that are considered to be lost contain less than 50 BTC ($3.2 million at current prices).
A supply crunch?
According to data provided by Glassnode, more than 68% of Bitcoin's total circulating supply has been inactive for more than a year.
The fact that less supply is available on the market is a potentially bullish development if one takes into account growing demand following the approval of a slew of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January.
The largest cryptocurrency is currently trading at $64,810 on major spot exchanges.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin