Prominent blockchain tracking service Whale Alert, which monitors large crypto transactions, spread the word about a dormant Bitcoin address that had been reactivated after a significant period — 10.9 years.
The last time this wallet was used was 2014 — four years after Satoshi Nakamoto’s disappearance and the year of the Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO). This wallet contains 300 BTC worth a massive $29,368,562.
Ancient whales returning en masse
Such “awakenings” of old-time whales took place frequently throughout November and December last year as Bitcoin began to surge and take on all-time high after another. Eventually, it recorded a historic price peak of $109,114 on Jan. 20 on the inauguration day of the new U.S. president. The latter is a prominent crypto supporter and looking at whether the U.S. is able to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve over the next few years.
Therefore, those ancient whales coming back to life from a 10-year dormancy picked the right time to lock in their profits. Frequently, though, early Bitcoin owners lost their keys approximately 10 or slightly fewer years ago and many have only managed to recover them by now. Hence, the large amount of old wallets coming out of hibernation.
As reported by U.Today, earlier this week, a staggering 14,000 Bitcoins were moved after remaining inactive between seven and ten years. However, according to the on-chain data company CryptoQuant, that monstrous amount of BTC was not transferred to any cryptocurrency exchange, meaning that no immediate sale is going to take place so far.
At the time of this writing, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is changing hands at $97,440 after displaying a 1.18% decline.