As a researcher with a background in cryptocurrency and blockchain analysis, I find the recent activity of this Bitcoin wallet intriguing. The sudden movement of over $536 million worth of BTCs after five and a half years of inactivity is an anomaly that warrants further investigation.


After a long slumber of over 1,900 days, a Bitcoin wallet has become active once again, carrying out a transaction valued at approximately $536 million in dormant Bitcoins.

For over a decade, Bitcoins were securely stored in a Coinbase wallet that was designed for offline storage. On June 11, during block 847,490, these Bitcoins were moved to a different wallet. The following block revealed the transfer of these Bitcoins to a Binance account. This transaction suggests that the digital currency was going to be sold, leading to a significant financial gain.

As a researcher, I regret to inform you that I haven’t been able to obtain sufficient data to determine if they have sold their assets yet. However, the information I have gathered so far is accessible here, kindly provided by Arkham Intelligence.

As a researcher studying cryptocurrency transactions, I frequently observe that large transfers typically follow a standard process involving small test transactions after a prolonged period of wallet inactivity. However, an unusual occurrence came to my attention: this wallet bypassed the test transfer stage and executed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions, amounting to approximately 8000 Bitcoins in a single transaction.

That includes transactions from the Coinbase cold storage and the intermediate wallet receiving funds from the cold storage and routing them to Binance. Nevertheless, the Coinbase cold storage initially received 8,000 BTCs on December 5, 2018, in numerous batches of about 200 BTCs.

As a researcher, I’ve noticed an intriguing trend since December 5, 2018. Bitcoins (BTC) price has experienced a remarkable surge of over 1,700%. At that time, the value was hovering around $3,750. The recent transactions from certain large-scale Bitcoin wallets, which had been inactive for extended periods, pique my interest. These whales may have been preparing for liquidations based on this price increase, meaning they could potentially realize substantial profits by selling off their holdings. We’ll soon find out if this is indeed the case, given the significant gains at stake.

A wallet that had been inactive for years suddenly became active during Bitcoin’s latest bull run, transferring 687 BTCs, approximately $44 million at the time of the transaction, to two different wallets. This dormant wallet, which dates back to Bitcoin’s early days when Satoshi Nakamoto was still an active internet presence, had sprung back to life.

As a researcher studying the dynamics of inactive Bitcoin wallets based on data from Chainalysis, I’ve found that approximately 0.056% of these wallets, which have been inactive for over a decade, become active monthly. However, it’s essential to note that not all of these wallets are usable. A significant number of them might have lost their owners due to the loss of their private keys.

Image by shadowfaxone from Pixabay

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2024-06-13 10:00