- Several wallets that have been dormant since 2014 have reawakened, with several holding millions worth of BTC.
- The cause of the activity is uncertain, with some speculating a major sell-off, while others believe it could be tied to Mt. Gox repayments.
- Nevertheless, Bitcoin has held strong at US $60k, suggesting that the hundreds of BTC transferred from Satoshi-era wallets weren’t necessarily all sold.
Bitcoin whale watching is back on the menu. The crypto market is tense at the minute, with BTC hovering around the US $60k mark and investors unsure if a breakout or a correction is imminent.
While some are happy to accumulate digital assets in their current state, other long-term investors are starting to wake from a decade-long slumber. Over the past week, two early-era Bitcoin buyers made their first transactions in nearly 10 years, prompting speculation across crypto social media over their intentions.
Related: Data Reveals 75% of Bitcoin Hasn’t Moved as Whales Accumulate More BTC
Satoshi-Era Wallets Spring Back to Life
The year is 2014. Hawthorn and the Rabbitohs were on the path to premierships, while Bitcoin was slowly but surely becoming a legitimate investment prospect in tech-savvy circles. At this point, you could snag BTC for around US $450 (AU $666) – which is exactly what one person did, buying 18 BTC for the princely sum of approx US $10k (AU $14k).
That wallet got on the move last week for the first time in over a decade, transferring its Bitcoin to an anonymous Coinbase wallet.
Decade-Old Wallet with 174 BTC Spurs Potential Sell-Off
This move was just one of many dormant wallets coming to life after over ten years of inactivity.
Another Satoshi-era wallet, this time holding 24 BTC, jumped into action just two days following the previous wallet, splitting its holdings between two separate wallets.
And perhaps the biggest wallet to rouse came on August 16th, as a wallet that had been untouched for 10.6 years sent its contents to a new, anonymous wallet.
The whale’s wallet, which held US $142k (AU $210k) worth of BTC at a time when the coin was relatively obscure, was valued at over US $10m (AU $14.8m) at the time of transaction.
The sudden awakening of a wallet with 174 BTC, sprinkled among other, inactive million-dollar wallets from the Satoshi area, has fuelled the rumour mill of an impending BTC crash.
Some believe that an old database full of Bitcoin wallet addresses was hacked, spurring the hacker to immediately sell the assets.
Some have speculated the whale movement is due to Mt. Gox repayments, while others simply believe old-time miners are cashing out as Bitcoin moves back to US $60k (AU $88k).
No matter the case, the potential for millions of BTC being dumped back onto the market hasn’t hurt Bitcoin’s resurgence following the early-August crash. The coin is holding steady at US $59k (AU $87k) despite concerns around the slowing US jobs market.
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