Bitcoin Whale Carrying $178 Million In BTC Wakes Up, But It’s Not All Bad News
Bitcoin Whale Carrying $178 Million in BTC Wakes Up, But It’s Not All Bad News
With the market consolidating after a massive run that took Bitcoin price above $30,000, a long-dormant BTC has awakened. This wallet has been dormant for almost a decade with BTC that was acquired at very cheap prices. And now, that whale has returned to the market with a huge stash of BTC.
Dormant Bitcoin Whale Worth $178 Million Becomes Active
According to a report by on-chain data aggregator lookonchain, an inactive Bitcoin address started transacting after nearly 10 years of inactivity. The interesting thing about this wallet is the amount of BTC it kept in its balance.
At the time of the wallet’s last transaction on December 19, 2013, it contained a total of 6,071.5 BTC. Now, in 2013, one BTC was selling for around $663, data shows, which is when this whale acquired its coins.
A whale with 6071.5 $ BTC($178 million) that has been inactive for 9.3 years transferred 2,071.5 $ BTC($60.7 million) today.
And the 2,071.5 $ BTC was finally transferred to the address starting with “bc1q”.
The whale received 6,071.5 $ BTC on December 19, 2013 when the price was $663. pic.twitter.com/CBpoIy2mEk
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 20, 2023
The owner of this wallet goes on to make no moves, even through the multiple bull markets that BTC has seen. However, it finally made its first transaction in nearly a decade on April 20, 2023, transferring 2,071.5 BTC worth $60.7 million at the time of the transaction.
Now, while this is normally bearish for BTC, it doesn’t look like this whale is looking to sell. The transaction was not made to a centralized exchange, which would normally signify an intent to sell. Instead, it was sent to another unknown wallet where the BTC now resides.
Reasons for long dormancy
This is not the first time that a dormant wallet carrying a large amount of BTC has come back to life, and it is unlikely to be the last. There are several reasons why wallets go dormant, from losing private keys to dying. In cases like this, it is likely that the wallet owner was finally able to regain access to the wallet after a few years.
However, as one user points out in Lookonchain’s post, another reason could be that the owner of the wallet was in prison. In the end, it’s all speculation as to why the whale held out so long without selling any tokens.
BTC returns to $28,000 territory | Source: BTCUSD at TradingView.com
As for Bitcoin, the digital asset is behaving well considering the circumstances. The bulls appear to have developed support for BTC just above the $28,800 level where the coin is currently trading. However, the euphoria that gripped the market last week has begun to subside and the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index has returned to neutral, pointing to a reluctance to enter the market at current prices.