Significant movements were detected on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain as two long-inactive “whale” addresses suddenly transferred large sums of the cryptocurrency, according to information gleaned from on-chain analysis.
Lookonchain, a firm specializing in blockchain monitoring, reported that two separate Bitcoin addresses, each containing 10,000 BTC, were completely depleted in rapid succession on July 4th.
Notably, these wallets had originally received their respective Bitcoin holdings on April 3rd, 2011, a time when Bitcoin was valued at just $0.78 per coin. For the first, slightly older wallet, this translates to a monumental increase in value from an initial $7,805 to an astounding $1,092,370,050.73 at the point of the recent transfer – marking an impressive gain of 13,995,672%.
Similarly, the second wallet experienced an almost identical surge, with its Bitcoin holdings climbing from $7,805 to $1,090,670,006.39, a 13,973,891% increase. Combined, these two “ancient” wallets moved a total of $2,183,040,056.
As of this writing, Bitcoin’s price is approximately $109,061.
While these wallets remained inactive for over a decade, they did receive very small quantities of Bitcoin during that period. This could be attributed to “dusting attacks,” a technique sometimes used to try to identify the owners of specific addresses. Dusting attacks are often carried out by researchers, law enforcement, or even malicious actors.
The sudden reactivation of previously dormant addresses often attracts significant media attention. This is partly due to the possibility, however remote, that these addresses could be linked to Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin, whose true identity remains unknown more than fifteen years after Bitcoin’s inception.
The last publicly documented online communication attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto dates back to December 2010. At that time, Nakamoto participated in a BitcoinTalk forum discussion concerning a software update designed to mitigate denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
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The original article, “Ancient Bitcoin Whales Abruptly Come Alive, Move $2,183,000,000+ in BTC After Lying Dormant for 14+ Years: On-Chain Data,” was first published on The Daily Hodl.