According to CryptoPotato, Bitcoin valued at over $60 million has been moved from dormant wallets that have been inactive for over a decade. The transfer took place yesterday and involved the movement of 1,000 BTC, which is currently valued at $62.8 million. The data shows that two Bitcoin wallet addresses, which have been dormant since September 12, 2013, moved a total of 1,000 BTC. The transfers occurred in succession, with one address moving 500 BTC ($31.4 million) at 9:46 a.m. UTC, followed by a second identical transfer just 20 minutes later.
These wallets had initially received 500 BTC each back in 2013 when Bitcoin was trading at around $124, which was approximately $62,000 in value at the time. Today, with Bitcoin's price close to $63,000, the value of the transferred fortune has surged more than 500 times over the past decade. The funds from the first wallet were further divided and sent to additional addresses, while those from the second are yet to be moved. The reason behind these transfers and the identity of the wallet owners remain unknown. However, the similarity in transfer amounts and the closeness of transactions suggest a potential connection between the two addresses.
This recent event is not an isolated incident in the crypto space. Earlier this year, a Bitcoin whale moved 2,000 BTC, valued at $140 million, after lying dormant for 14 years. This transfer involved 40 sets of mining rewards, each consisting of 50 BTC, accumulated over a decade into one wallet. Such movements of dormant Bitcoin have become increasingly common. Last week alone, 687.33 BTC, worth over $44 million, was moved for the first time in a decade. In March, the fifth richest address on the Bitcoin blockchain, dormant since 2019, transferred $6 billion worth of the asset to three new wallets. The transfer took place against a backdrop of increased institutional interest in Bitcoin caused by its price surpassing $70,000. In January, nearly 50,000 dormant BTC became active less than a week after the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States, hinting at a potential correlation between regulatory developments and dormant activity.