On Oct. 25, a long-dormant bitcoin wallet from June 5, 2012—12 years and 4 months old—sprang back to life, moving 399 BTC.
Ancient Bitcoin Wallet Awakens: 399 BTC From 2012 Moved by This Month’s 2011 Whale
This article was published more than a year ago. Some information may no longer be current.
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12-Year-Old Wallet Transfers 399 BTC—Tied to the 2011 Bitcoin Whale
This month has captivated many as several old wallets, especially from 2011, have awakened while bitcoin’s value remains higher than in September. Bitcoin.com News has reported on these reactivated wallets from 2011, noting that all of the transactions trace back to the same entity.
This entity recently sent part of its funds to Bitstamp, a longstanding cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2011 in Slovenia. Following a 150 BTC transaction yesterday, another wallet caught by btcparser.com moved an additional 399 BTC from 2012, marking its first activity in over a decade.
Our findings at Bitcoin.com News reveal that this 2012 wallet belongs to the same owner spending 2011 coins this month. Clues include matching spending patterns, such as sending BTC from the legacy Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) wallet to another P2PKH wallet and transferring 100 BTC to a Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH) wallet linked to Bitstamp.
The Bitstamp deposit address is identical to the one receiving BTC from the 2011 transfers. Similar to the 2011 transactions, privacy wasn’t prioritized, earning a Blockchair privacy score of zero out of 100, with matched inputs and outputs and a rounded transfer amount. At today’s exchange rate, the Bitstamp deposit is valued at $6.77 million.
Together, the 2011 and recent 2012 transfers suggest this individual controls a significant amount of older BTC and appears selective about what to liquidate. By selling part of the BTC now, with prices high, the owner might be waiting to sell more if bitcoin prices climb further. Although we know this is a whale with substantial holdings, the owner’s ultimate plans remain unknown.
