Satoshi

Bitcoin

Fortune

when

Two mysterious Bitcoin wallets holding a combined 1,000 Bitcoin — worth $61 million at current prices — have suddenly awoken after a 10-year hiatus, transferring out almost every single satoshi.
Wallet address “16vRq…qjzEa” <a href="https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/16vRqAJ1wfuFBkVMabKnZHLkeN3uwqjzEa" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">transferred</a> out its 500 Bitcoin (<a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">BTC</a>)&nbsp;at block 843,131 on May 12 at 7:10 pm UTC, while the other 500 Bitcoin was <a href="https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/1DUJuHGVT4sa1VMGjfF9YdFnFAEw6NgfC5" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">sent</a> by address “1DUJuH…NgfC5” two blocks later, according to Blockchain.com’s Bitcoin block explorer.
The wallets each received 500 Bitcoin on Sept. 12 and Sept. 13, 2013, when Bitcoin was priced at $134, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin/usd" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to CoinGecko. 
At current prices, the combined amount transferred is now worth 456 times more than their acquisition price, at $61.2 million.
Since the transfers, one of the receiving addresses from “16vRq…qjzEa” has already transferred the 500 Bitcoin onward to a multitude of wallets, while the receiver from “1DUJuH…NgfC5” is still holding its 500 Bitcoin. 
The proximity of the inward and outward transfers <a href="https://x.com/lookonchain/status/1789599944749596795" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">prompted</a> blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain to pair the two transactions together, onlookers believe the two wallets were owned by the same person or entity.
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/lookonchain/status/1789599944749596795" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Lookonchain</a>
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Before the transfers, the two addresses were the equal 4,353rd-largest Bitcoin whales, <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses-44.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to BitInfoCharts.
Less than a week ago, a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/satoshi-era-dormant-bitcoin-address-awakens-transfers-43-9m">Satoshi Nakamoto-era Bitcoin wallet</a> transferred 687 Bitcoin, worth $43.9 million, to two separate addresses.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/epic-sat-mined-bitcoin-halving-block-sells-two-million">'Epic sat' mined from fourth Bitcoin halving block sells for $2.1M</a>
While at least one of these early-day Bitcoin wallets tends to wake up each month, nearly 1.8 million Bitcoin <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/types-of-bitcoin-addresses">addresses&nbsp;have remained dormant</a> for over a decade, <a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/04/24/bitcoin-wallets-waking-up-lost-coins-satoshi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to a recent analysis by Chainalysis and Fortune.
These wallets, excluding Nakamoto’s wallet, contain about $121 billion worth of Bitcoin, Fortune said.
While it is impossible to know how much this has been lost, the 1.8 million addresses account for 8.5% of the total 21 million Bitcoin that will ever exist.
People often speculate that dormant wallets may be waking up to sell Bitcoin at an opportune time,&nbsp; others suggest it could be to transfer the funds to a different address, perhaps under a more secure noncustodial wallet service provider.
Bitcoin is currently priced at $61,450 and is up 130% over the last 12 months, according to CoinGecko.
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 Bitcoin’s change in price since April, 2013. Source: CoinGecko
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Big Questions:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/big-questions-can-bitcoin-payments-make-a-comeback/"> How can Bitcoin payments stage a comeback?</a>

Bitcoin whale wallets move $61M in BTC after a decade of dormancy

Cointelegraph

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