A long-inactive bitcoin wallet suddenly roared back to life this week, transferring tens of millions of dollars worth of BTC after sitting untouched for nearly 13 years.
On Thursday morning, blockchain data showed that a wallet holding 479.69 BTC (about $53.2 million) initiated its first transactions since November 2012. Between 2:36 a.m. and 9:29 a.m. UTC, the wallet sent five outbound transactions totaling 81.25 BTC (roughly $9 million), according to blockchain explorer Mempool.
From $44 to $53 Million
The wallet’s previous activity dates back to November 13, 2012, when it sent out 4 BTC—worth just $44 at the time. Back then, the wallet still held about 398 BTC, valued at a modest $4,400. Over the next 18 months, it quietly received another 81 BTC before going dormant again, with only minor “dust” transactions afterward.
Fast forward to today, and the story looks very different. With bitcoin trading around $111,000, the address’s remaining 398.44 BTC is now worth about $44.2 million. In total, the wallet’s holdings have multiplied more than 10,000 times in value since its last outbound move.
Legacy Address, Modern Transfers
The wallet in question used a legacy “16fXT” Pay-to-PubKey-Hash (P2PKH) address, one of the oldest formats in Bitcoin’s history. On Thursday, the funds were moved into more modern “bc1q” SegWit addresses—part of a trend where early holders shift coins into updated formats for easier transactions, lower fees, and improved security.
💤 💤 💤 💤 💤 💤 A dormant address containing 479 #BTC (53,683,598 USD) has just been activated after 12.8 years!https://t.co/TV3PBHdKlP
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) September 4, 2025
So far, the bulk of the transferred BTC remains parked in these new addresses and has not been moved further. The reason behind the transfers and the identity of the wallet’s owner remain unknown, according to analytics firm Arkham.
Rising Activity From Early Bitcoin Whales
This isn’t an isolated case. Dormant “OG” bitcoin wallets have been increasingly active in recent months as BTC pushes to new all-time highs.
- In July, Galaxy Digital sold more than 80,000 BTC (over $9 billion) tied to a Satoshi-era investor for estate planning purposes. Despite the size of the sale, the market absorbed it without major disruption.
- Earlier this month, another long-term bitcoin holder began shifting a portion of a $5 billion BTC stash into ether (ETH), amassing nearly $4 billion worth of ETH so far.
These moves highlight how early investors—many of whom mined or bought bitcoin when it was virtually worthless—are beginning to reposition or secure their holdings as the asset matures.
