A previously inactive Bitcoin (BTC) wallet holding 1,037 BTC, valued at $31 million, has suddenly become active after lying dormant for 11 years. The entire stash was transferred out of the wallet, which occurred at block height 799701, around 10:51 am UTC on July 22, according to BitInfoCharts.
The wallet received the 1,037 BTC on April 11, 2012, when the price of BTC was only $4.92. At that time, the value of the stash was a mere $5,108. This means that the value of the BTC has increased significantly over the past 11 years.
The recipient of the transferred BTC was a fresh wallet address, “bc1qt180…,” according to data from blockchain aggregator Blockchair. The balance of the original Bitcoin wallet reached its peak at $71.6 million when BTC reached its all-time high price of $69,044 on November 10. This indicates that the wallet holder may have made substantial profits from their BTC holdings.
Interestingly, the United States government has also been involved in significant BTC movements recently. On July 12, the government transferred nearly 10,000 BTC, worth $299 million, in relation to the Silk Road seizure. It is unclear whether these transactions were sent to cryptocurrency exchanges or if the BTC remains under the custody of the Justice Department.
This recent activity follows a series of mysterious wallet movements involving large amounts of BTC. In June, a Bitcoin whale moved 1,400 BTC, worth $36 million at the time, to a Pay-to-Taproot (P2TR) address, possibly to enhance privacy. In April, another Bitcoin address transferred 2,071 BTC, valued at $60 million, nearly 10 years after acquiring the BTC at $663. Earlier than that, a massive $250 million transfer of 26,056 BTC was made by another Bitcoin address. At the all-time high price of BTC, this wallet was worth more than $1 billion.
Despite these high-value transfers, over 55% of BTC has remained stagnant for over two years, according to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode. This indicates that a significant portion of BTC holders are holding onto their assets, potentially as a long-term investment strategy.
BTC is currently priced at $30,082, representing an 81.8% increase in value since the beginning of 2023. However, it is still down 56.4% from its all-time high in November 2021.
The sudden activity in the previously dormant BTC wallet and the various large-scale transfers in recent months highlight the ongoing interest and movement within the cryptocurrency market. As BTC continues to be a valuable asset, it remains to be seen how these movements will impact the overall crypto landscape.
Source link