Dormant Bitcoin Wallet Holding 1,000 BTC Comes Back to Life After 12 Years
by FARUK IMAMOVIC | VIEW 1406
The crypto market has been riding high this year, but last week was a different story as deep corrections took hold. Market participants are now worried that the correction will continue as several previously inactive addresses with large crypto holdings have started to move funds in recent days.
Another 'Sleeping' Wallet is Waking Up
A crypto whale monitoring service, Whale Alert, reported on Monday, April 24, that a formerly dormant Bitcoin wallet holding over 1,000 BTC (worth approximately $27.48 million at the time of writing) had performed a transaction for the first time in 12 years.
The wallet, starting with "1Mj", transferred 400 BTC to another wallet, starting with "3BJ", in four transactions of 100 BTC, one after the other.ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ A dormant address containing 1,000 #BTC (27,456,958 USD) has just been activated after 12.0 years! https://t.co/lHrgCNWpbY — Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 24, 2023
Dynamo DeFi founder, Patrick Scott, pointed out that the last time the wallet made a transaction was less than a year ago, following the famous 10,000 BTC pizza purchase by Laszlo Hanyecz on May 22, 2010. This wallet is the third Bitcoin dormant address to wake up in the last four days, which has the crypto community buzzing.
This address has been dormant since early May 2011. For perspective, this was less than 1 year after the famous Bitcoin pizza was purchased for 10,000 BTC. https://t.co/2Xx2pqyx6c — Patrick | Dynamo DeFi (@Dynamo_Patrick) April 24, 2023
Bears Coming Out of Hibernation?
On Wednesday, April 19, a Bitcoin wallet holding 6,071 BTC (worth approximately $166.97 million at the current exchange rate) made a transaction for the first time in 13 years, as reported by Whale Alert.
The wallet, starting with "1Jd", sent 2071 BTC to another address starting with "3HB". Then on Friday, April 21, an inactive address holding 1,128 BTC (approximately $31 million at the time of writing) conducted a transaction after 10 and a half years of dormancy, as reported by Whale Alert.
The address, starting with "12A", now only holds about 665.64 BTC, according to data from Blockchain.com.
The trend of waking up dormant addresses is not limited to Bitcoin. At least two previously inactive Ethereum addresses have also woken up in less than two weeks.ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ ð¤ A dormant address containing 6,071 #BTC (178,128,678 USD) has just been activated after 9.3 years (worth 3,362,853 USD in 2013)!
https://t.co/HOwG8l0IJ7 — Whale Alert (@whale_alert) April 19, 2023
In the latest case, an Ethereum Initial Coin Offering participant with 2,365 ETH transacted for the first time in 7.7 years, sending one ETH in one transaction. This trend is concerning as previously inactive account activity is usually associated with increased selling pressure, and the Crypto Twitter community has taken notice.
Whales, entities that own between 1,000 and 10,000 Bitcoins, are often considered responsible for sudden price fluctuations in both crypto and traditional markets, affecting the prices of crypto assets through buying and selling.
Long-term dormant whale addresses represent owners who have purchased crypto assets at significantly lower prices than current exchange rates.