An individual with a significant amount of Bitcoin, known as a whale, has moved 8,000 BTC valued at $536.5 million from a cold storage wallet on Coinbase after being inactive for over five years. The entire stash was sent to a Bitcoin address “1ABww1…mCSKq” at block 847,490 on June 11 at 1:26 pm UTC, as reported by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. Shortly after, the Bitcoin was transferred to a Binance deposit address “15u4H…rMsLa” in the following block, according to Arkham data, without any test transactions taking place beforehand.
The original receipt of the 8,000 Bitcoin into the Coinbase cold-storage wallet occurred through multiple transfers on December 5, 2018, primarily in batches of 200 BTC. A sudden activation of dormant addresses holding large amounts of Bitcoin may suggest a potential sale, especially if the funds are sent to an exchange deposit address. While it remains uncertain whether the owner of the Bitcoin wallet cashed out, the transfer resulted in a substantial 1,700% increase from the acquisition price of $3,750 in 2018.
This recent transfer is not the only instance of dormant Bitcoin wallets becoming active, as two connected Bitcoin wallets moved a combined 1,000 Bitcoin worth $61 million on May 12. Additionally, a Bitcoin wallet linked to the era of Satoshi Nakamoto sent 687 Bitcoin, valued at almost $44 million, to separate addresses a week prior. Despite occasional awakenings of early Bitcoin wallets, over 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses have remained inactive for over a decade, totaling $121 billion at current market prices, excluding Nakamoto’s wallet.
A recent drop in Bitcoin’s price saw a 7.5% decrease from a local peak of $71,650 on June 7 to $66,250 on June 11. Despite this decline, the Fear & Greed Index for the crypto market still indicates “Greed” sentiment with a score of 74 out of 100. The sentiment surrounding Bitcoin payments and the overall cryptocurrency market continues to be optimistic with potential for a resurgence.
Big Questions:
How could Bitcoin transactions experience a resurgence?