Dormant Bitcoin Whale Transfers 8,000 BTC After Half a Decade

A significant movement in the crypto world has been recorded as a Bitcoin whale transferred 8,000 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $536.5 million, from a Coinbase cold storage wallet. This wallet had been dormant for over five and a half years. According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, the Bitcoin address “1ABww1…mCSKq” received the entire stash at block 847,490 on June 11, at 1:26 pm UTC.

The recently activated wallet transferred all 8,000 BTC to the Binance deposit address “15u4H…rMsLa” within one block and 11 minutes of receiving it. No preliminary test transactions were made before these significant transfers. The Coinbase cold storage wallet initially accumulated 8,000 Bitcoin on December 5, 2018, through multiple transfers, predominantly in batches of 200 BTC. This sudden activation of a large dormant address often indicates potential selling, especially when the funds are moved to an exchange deposit address.

This transfer marks a 1,700% increase from the acquisition price of $3,750 per Bitcoin on December 5, 2018. It is not an isolated event; in recent weeks, other notable Bitcoin whales have also shown activity. On May 12, two linked Bitcoin wallets transferred a combined 1,000 BTC worth $61 million. A week earlier, a Bitcoin wallet from the Satoshi Nakamoto era moved 687 BTC, nearly $44 million, to two separate addresses. 

Although it’s common for at least one early Bitcoin wallet to activate each month, most older addresses remain dormant. According to an April 24 report by Chainalysis and Fortune, nearly 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses, excluding Nakamoto’s wallet, have not been active for over a decade, representing $121 billion in Bitcoin at current prices.

Despite the notable movements of these dormant addresses, Bitcoin recently experienced a price slump. It fell 7.5% from a local high of $71,650 on June 7 to $66,250 on June 11. As of press time, Bitcoin is priced at $67,379.72 with a 24-hour trading volume of $32.37 billion. This marks a -0.74% price decline in the last 24 hours and a -5.36% decline over the past week. However, the Fear & Greed Index indicates a score of 74, placing it in the “Greed” zone. Bitcoin’s market cap stands at $1.33 trillion, with a circulating supply of 20 million BTC.