Dormant Bitcoin Whale Carrying $8.7 Billion Awakens After 14 Years

Ancient Bitcoin whales who have existed since Bitcoin’s early days have resurfaced after 14 years of silence

Data provided by on-chain analytics platform, Lookonchain, shows that the whales have moved billions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin in mere hours.

The move, which has sent shockwaves across the broad crypto ecosystem, saw massive amounts of Bitcoin—worth about $8.7 billion—switch positions among unknown addresses.

This epic Bitcoin transaction was also spotted by blockchain monitoring firm, Whale Alert, which showcased the multi-billion-dollar worth of Bitcoin being moved in batches of mostly ten thousands.

In less than four hours, the firm confirmed the movement of 10,000 BTC each, transferred in eight separate transactions, seeing a total of 80,000 BTC transferred for the first time since 2011.

Over $8 Billion in BTC gains

While the BTC stash was initially acquired during the days of the mysterious Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, the tokens were worth less than $4 at the time of purchase. The data revealed that each of the 10,000 BTC transferred on July 4th was worth about $33,999 in 2011.

Notably, each of the 10,000 BTC transferred today was worth over $1.08 billion at the time of transfer, suggesting that the whale has amassed massive gains of over $1.08 billion per each 10,000 BTC stash. Hence, the total 80,000 BTC holdings have achieved over $8 billion in profit within the span of 14.2 years.

While the reason behind the massive BTC transfer remains unconfirmed, it has sparked curiosity across the crypto community regarding the nature of the transaction and its potential impact on the crypto market’s performance.

Nonetheless, a recent post from popular crypto analyst firm Arkham has revealed that the major Bitcoin transfer witnessed today was moved by a single entity, predictably an institutional holder.

The firm further revealed that all of the Bitcoin was moved into the original wallets on either April 2nd or May 4th, 2011, and had not been moved until today, marking 14 years of dormancy.

While the move has sparked concerns of major volatility ahead for the crypto market, the massive Bitcoin transfers have yet to directly impact BTC’s current market value, as the market has maintained stable price movements since the time the transactions were executed.