As a researcher with a background in blockchain analysis, I find the recent awakening of long-dormant Bitcoin wallets, such as the one from Coinbase cold storage transferring 8,000 BTC, to be an intriguing development in the crypto space. This trend is often a result of investors and old miners selling their chunks of assets for profits, especially given the significant increase in Bitcoin’s value over the years.


An inactive Bitcoin wallet belonging to a large holder, or “whale,” has been reactivated for the first time in more than five and a half years. This wallet moved approximately 8,000 Bitcoins, equivalent to $536.5 million based on current market value, from Coinbase’s cold storage facility.

The recent surge in activity from long-dormant Bitcoin wallets can typically be attributed to investors and early miners cashing in their Bitcoins for profits.

Dormant Wallets Wakes Up

Approximately 8,000 Bitcoins that had been held in cold storage by Coinbase for over five years were moved to the wallet address “1ABww1” on June 11, at 1:26 pm UTC, which corresponds to block number 847,490 in the Bitcoin blockchain.

As a crypto investor, I received a significant amount of Bitcoin into my wallet, which later incurred a transfer fee of $108 to move the BTC to another Binance deposit address. In contrast to some transactions valued at over $1 billion in the past, there were no test transactions involved in this particular transfer.

According to information from blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, there were transfers totaling 200 bitcoins each, amounting to a total of approximately $1.3 million at the time, made to Coinbase’s cold storage wallet between October 5, 2018, and December 5, 2018.

I’m thrilled that the value of my Bitcoin investment has surpassed $67,409 – a remarkable +1,700% increase from when I originally bought it for an average price of $3,750 back in 2018. However, whether I chose to sell my stash after transferring it to Binance is still unknown. Regardless, I’m not alone in this endeavor; many other investors are also reviving their long-term dormant Bitcoin addresses to capitalize on these profit opportunities.

On April 7, a Bitcoin address that had been inactive for over a decade, containing approximately 4,300 Bitcoins, became active once more. This dormant account holder transferred around 246 BTC to another wallet. Originally, they had acquired these Bitcoins nearly fifteen years ago at an average price of $29.39 each. Now, they were selling their digital assets for a remarkable 230,000% return on investment.

Miners Selling Their Stash?

As a long-term Bitcoin investor, I’ve noticed an intriguing development: Old miners are gradually waking up their dormant wallets holding substantial Bitcoins. For instance, on March 27th, a Bitcoin miner’s wallet, which hadn’t been active for over 14 years, transferred approximately 2,000 BTC that it had mined back in 2010.

Upon collecting my BTC earnings, I found the amount to be worth just a few hundred dollars. But when I finally unlocked my digital wallet, I was astonished to discover that my previously insignificant stash had grown to an astounding $140 million value.

Approximately one formerly inactive Bitcoin wallet becomes active each month, according to recent data from Chainalysis and Fortune. Around 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses have been inactive for over a decade. A significant portion of these long-dormant wallets might no longer have access due to lost passphrases.

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2024-06-12 16:49