A Bitcoin wallet dormant for 13 years transferred its entire 909 BTC balance worth $85 million, adding to a wave of ancient addresses reactivating in recent months.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence tracked the transfer from address 1A2hq…pZGZm to a new address bc1qk…sxaeh.
The wallet first accumulated cryptocurrency between December 2012 and April 2013, when Bitcoin traded below $7 per coin.
The holder now sits on an unrealized gain exceeding 13,000%, though the coins have not yet moved to known exchange wallets, suggesting potential security consolidation rather than liquidation.
What Happened
The dormant whale transfer continues a pattern observed throughout this year as long-inactive wallets moved more than $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency, according to onchain data.
The most significant sale occurred in July when roughly 80,000 BTC held for 14 years sold near $108,000 per coin through institutional firm Galaxy Digital, totaling approximately $9 billion.
Bitcoin traded around $93,000 at press time, down more than 27% from its early October peak above $126,000.
The latest wallet movement comes as blockchain sleuths tracked over 62,800 BTC exiting addresses older than seven years in early to mid-year, more than double the amount during the same period in the previous year.
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Why It Matters
Early holders repositioning cryptocurrency after years of dormancy could signal various motivations beyond simple profit-taking.
Some analysts suggest security-conscious holders may be responding to growing warnings about future quantum computing threats to Bitcoin's elliptic-curve signatures.
Older addresses using pay-to-public-key formats have already exposed their public keys, potentially making them more vulnerable when quantum computers become sufficiently advanced.
Research firm Chaincode Labs estimates approximately 6.51 million BTC, representing 32.7% of current supply and worth over $700 billion, remains quantum vulnerable.
While most cryptographers view practical quantum threats as years away, recent proposals like developer Agustin Cruz's Quantum-Resistant Address Migration Protocol suggest the ecosystem is preparing migration paths to post-quantum cryptographic schemes.
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