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In a surprising turn of events, dormant Bitcoin wallets from the Satoshi era have reawakened, sparking curiosity on the market.
Within the last 24 hours, blockchain data tracker Whale Alert reported six transactions of dormant addresses containing 10,000 BTC each, reactivated after more than 14 years of dormancy.
In the most recent hour, Whale Alert reported four transactions of 10,000 BTC each, activated after 14.2 years. The other two transactions reported in the last 11 hours had 10,000 BTC each as well, activated after 14.3 years.
Quite odd: Coinbase exec weighs in
Coinbase director Connor Grogan offered insights into the high-value movement, suggesting that the BTC in question had come from a single miner dating back to 2011. Connor reacted to one of the transactions, which saw a whopping $1 billion BTC reactivated.
This miner, according to Grogan, once controlled a wallet that held a whopping 200,000 BTC, which at today’s prices would be worth $22 billion, placing it among the top five Bitcoin wallets ever recorded.
Grogan added, "If I had to guess about 50%, this is an unmarked exchange cold wallet, given some of the behavior of related wallets and the history of things like this, but it's quite odd."
On-chain data shares another perspective
On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain attributes the recent movement to a Bitcoin OG who owns at least 80,009 BTC (worth $8.69 billion) and controls about eight wallets, two of which received 20,000 BTC ($15,600 at the time, $2.18 billion today) on April 2, 2011, when the price of BTC was $0.78. On May 4, 2011, the other six wallets received 60,009 BTC ($202,000 at the time, now $6.52 billion) at $3.37.
Six wallets have transferred out 60,000 BTC after being dormant for more than 14 years, with the other two remaining dormant.
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team