"The Resurgence of Bitcoin Whales: Tracking the Activity of Ancient Coins in 2023"

2023-05-15 16:33:41

Last week, another Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale awoke from years of slumber. Wallet ID 1H1Ab6 transferred 139 BTC to a new SegWit address.

The owner of the wallet spent about $2,250 to buy Bitcoins in June 2011. The current market value of the assets is roughly $3.5 million. Cryptoanalysts call these coins “ancient” coins, because even the oldest ones were purchased at least seven years ago.

Bitcoin whales have been active in the past six months

The activity of these “ancient bitcoins” picked up quite a bit in the first half of the year. Since the beginning of this year, 3,200 BTC have emerged from hibernation, of which 1,100 coins are from 2013. A Satoshi-era title recently moved 412 BTC worth $9.6 million.

It hasn’t even been a month since we reported that a dormant bitcoin wallet holding 6,071 BTC worth roughly $178 million had suddenly revived after 9.3 years of inactivity. The Satoshi-era wallet previously held only $3.3 million worth of BTC in 2013. The sudden activation of the wallet excited the cryptocurrency community, many people speculated about the identity of the owner of the wallet and the reason for the activation. The wallet’s transaction history shows that the first transaction took place on December 19, 2013, and the last one on April 19, 2023. Out of a total of 6,071 BTC, 2,071 BTC were moved. According to crypto analysts, the transfer was likely done as an over-the-counter (OTC) trade, as the funds did not land on any known exchange wallet.

It is not always good for a whale to become active

Coin movements from old wallets are often seen as a bad sign. This could indicate that the owner is moving the BTC to a crypto exchange to sell them and pocket their huge profits. Sales of this volume can put significant pressure on the Bitcoin market price. However, in many cases this is not the case. Owners only occasionally move their Bitcoins to new addresses for safekeeping.

According to Glassnode analysts, after 155 days, there is less chance of owners selling their Bitcoin. IntoTheBlock data and according to 69% of Bitcoin addresses, the weighted average holding period is currently more than one year.

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