Bitcoin Wallets Dormant for 14 Years Suddenly Active—and They're Worth Billions

Newsweek

6 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A staggering $2 billion worth of Bitcoin has been reactivated after more than a decade of inactivity.
The digital vaults, each holding 10,000 bitcoin, were reactivated on Thursday, July 3 and Friday, July 4, after lying untouched since 2011.
The wallets, tagged as "12tLs...xj2me" and "1KbrS...AWJYm," moved their full balances to new addresses within 30 minutes of each other. The transfers—spotted by blockchain tracking services Whale Alert and Lookonchain—mark the first time the assets have been touched in 14 years.
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Back in 2011, when Bitcoin traded at roughly $0.78 per coin, these wallets represented a modest investment of around $7,800 each. Today, thanks to a nearly 13,982,800 percent increase, the contents of each wallet are estimated at more than $1.1 billion—placing their owners squarely in the rarefied ranks of crypto's "whale" class.
"In the early days of Bitcoin, there were quite a few early enthusiasts who mined BTC or bought it for a fraction of a dollar, but most of them either sold it much earlier—for millions instead of billions—or spent it on something trivial at the time, like the two pizzas famously bought for 10,000 bitcoins in 2010," Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst, investor and founder of The Coin Bureau, told Newsweek.
A file photo of golden Bitcoins, representing the digital currency.
A file photo of golden Bitcoins, representing the digital currency.
Tevarak/Getty Images
"Holding on to such a staggering amount requires either a great deal of foresight, when the asset is already soaring by many thousands, or a great deal of forgetfulness," he explained.
Despite the digital trail, little is known about the wallets' owners. The sudden activity—on consecutive days, and involving identical sums—has led analysts to believe the wallets may be linked.
With the wallets now valued at over $2 billion, the bitcoin represents a 140,000-fold return on the original investments. But cashing in isn't as easy as it may seem.
"There's no such thing as payouts or dividends when it comes to Bitcoin—like gold, it's simply an asset that can be sold in exchange for its market value in a fiat currency," Puckrin explained. "As long as the person still has access to the private key to the wallet where the Bitcoin is held, which it seems they do if they moved it to a new address, they can sell this Bitcoin. However, given the amount, they would have to sell it very carefully, because disposing of this amount of Bitcoin all at once could crash the price."
Nobody knows the identity of the Bitcoin owner or owners, but Puckrin explained it is unlikely that they will come forward.
"It's highly unlikely this person will go public, especially considering the physical danger several prominent crypto figures have found themselves in lately from so-called 'wrench attacks,' such as David Balland, co-founder of cryptocurrency wallet firm Ledger, who was kidnapped with his wife in January," he said. "Apart from that, early adopters of Bitcoin tend to value privacy and anonymity, so there's no reason why they would want to reveal their identities to the world."