Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Wake Up After 16 Years, Moving $6.9 Million

Judgment

Bitcoin holders deciding how to read dormant-supply headlines should treat Friday’s 100 BTC move as an address-change signal, not proof of a sale, and size any de-risking against the cost of overreacting to unconfirmed OTC flows.

Basis

Whale Alert flagged the first transfer at 4:08 a.m. UTC on Nov. 13: 50 BTC worth about $3.44 million from an address untouched since September 2010; just over two minutes later, another 50 BTC moved. The coins came from blocks mined Sept. 8 and Sept. 19, 2010, when 50 BTC was worth about $3; at Friday’s ~$68,800 per BTC, Decrypt puts combined value at ~$6,885,068 and the price-appreciation measure at 114,751,033%, which is unrealized and not proof of selling. The first transfer split into ~49.99 BTC and ~0.01 BTC, the second into ~49 BTC and ~1 BTC, each paying 1,110 satoshis (~$0.75). By ~14:00 UTC Friday the 100 BTC had not moved again and no sale was identified; Galaxy Research had noted 553.59 BTC from 2011–2014 wallets moving in one 10-day stretch, with some tied to security, upgrades, or custodians. Mechanism: on-chain data shows address changes, not ownership, counterparties, or intent.