When bitcoin slipped beneath the $80,000 mark last Thursday, a cluster of 13 long-dormant wallets from 2013 suddenly sprang to life, shifting 325 BTC—now worth $27.4 million—into motion.
13 Bitcoin Time Capsules Crack Open: $27M in 2013 BTC Suddenly Awaken
This article was published more than a year ago. Some information may no longer be current.
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A Set of 13 Decade-Old Bitcoin Vaults Unlock
These days, bitcoin’s price swings have been wildly erratic, yet that hasn’t stopped dormant stashes from rousing after years of digital hibernation. On March 13, btcparser.com discovered a group of 13 Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) wallets—all born between February and March 2013—transferred exactly 25.02 BTC each, totaling 325 BTC.
Every last satoshi was funneled into a single Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH) address. The first transaction originated from a wallet born on Feb. 17, 2013, with all 325 BTC swept using the “send everything” feature to migrate to the upgraded wallet format.
Back then, the entire bitcoin hoard carried a mere $17,000 value; today, it’s ballooned to $27.4 million. The funds remain unspent in the new P2SH wallet. March has been relatively quiet for ancient bitcoin movements, though a few relics have stirred.
On March 3, a set of six wallets forged in 2011 shuffled 250 BTC across blocks 886,069 to 886,132. Then, on March 12, four out of 11 active wallets dated to 2010, pooling a modest 0.01012922 BTC (roughly $860 today) into a fresh address. While modest, these four transactions from 2010 were the oldest.
This month, 2017-era bitcoins have been shaking off the dust, with ten transfers spotted so far. Collectively, wallets from 2017 were seen shifting funds in Mar. 2025, offloading approximately 105.3 bitcoin. Still, that pales compared to March 2025’s record: 22 separate moves from 2013 wallets, marking a historic shuffle of once-forgotten crypto treasures.
Today, a sleeping bitcoin wallet from the 2012 era moved a single BTC. Now while that’s a modest amount, it was the first time the funds moved since April 28, 2012. Alongside this, the wallet still holds 27.00064765 BTC worth $2.28 million.
