Dormant Bitcoin Wallet from 2014 Moves $10.2 Million in BTC
In a shocking turn of events, a Bitcoin wallet that had not been active since 2014 suddenly became active, moving a large sum of cryptocurrency. On August 16, 2024, the wallet, which had received 174.88 BTC on January 8, 2014, transmitted its balance for the first time in twelve years.
Transaction Details
The 174.88 BTC, which was initially worth approximately $142,000 back in 2014, has appreciated significantly in value. Today, the Bitcoin that was moved equals more than $10.2 million, setting the stage for the cryptocurrency’s enormous gains over the years.
The transaction was tracked down by blockchain tracking service Whale Alert, which pointed out that the wallet moved with a transaction fee of 67,500 satoshis, or about $39.43. The transfer was fast despite the relatively low fee, as it was a 50x overpayment and the compiler was chosen to be processed.
Rising Value Over the Years
The story of this wallet is truly amazing. In October 2018, the holdings were worth around $896,000. The value had reached more than $5 million by the end of January 2021. In the current transaction, 0.00004226 BTC is the amount that remains in the wallet, whose current value is approximately $2.50 with the current Bitcoin price of $59,300.
The Trend of Waking Dormant Wallets
The activity of this wallet is part and parcel of a larger scale phenomenon in the recent months when blockchain wallets that are supposed to be dormant have moved their funds. While Satoshi-era wallets—those that hold coins mined during the early years of Bitcoin’s history—have been largely inactive, the other old wallets have been walking the Earth with more frequency.
From an April 2024 instance, the wallet in question followed up on a transaction made twelve years ago by passing $6.9 million worth of BTC. Likewise, another wallet, which had lain dormant for about fourteen years, moved $3 million in BTC to Binance in June 2024.
Market Aspects
Reactivation of dormant wallets not only draws attention to the cryptocurrency industry but it is also used as a sign of the supply pressure on the market. There is a teething issue whereby locking of long-dormant wallets becomes a problem, leading to volatility, especially when the transferred BTC is sold in large quantities.
According to the latest reports, there is a total of approximately 18.3 million BTC stuck in wallets that have been dormant for quite a while. This included a significant surge by 10.9 million units between January 2024 and April 2024, when there was a collective of all the dormant wallets that yielded 7.4 million Bitcoins. The movement of wallets that have slept off for so long is one of the most closely observed issues by market participants since it could be the cause of bigger price changes in the Bitcoin market.
