One whale moves 6522 bitcoins (BTC) after 5 years of inactivity
Regardless of the rate, every year we observe BTC addresses that finally show activity. In November, after 5 years of inactivity, we saw just over $108 million (approx.) 6,522 bitcoins moved (BTC $16,675 on Nov 17, 2022). When submitted on July 31, 2017, a bitcoin was worth about $2,700. In Blockchain, we can track the movements of different addresses and sometimes we are surprised by the result. I wonder what stories there are about the different owners of these addresses.
6522 bitcoins sent to two different addresses
Despite the complete collapse of the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin remains the queen of cryptocurrencies. Hodlers have nothing to do with the course (compared to FIATS). With BTC peaking at an ATH of over $69,000 in November 2021, some whales are only now waking up to the apocalyptic backdrop. On November 16, 2022, at Bitcoin block height 763,474, 6,522 BTC moved from one address to another. Bitcoin’s cash equivalent has not changed. Blockchair has analyzed transactions and their lack of extreme privacy: There have been 20 attempted “dusting attacks” over the past 5 years.
Dormant bitcoins change address
You can track transactions on the blockchain here or here. The old miners of the startups had accumulated a lot of BTC for some. Recently, since 2011, 3,500 bitcoins appear to have been moved for the first time in 11 years. In December 2021, 230 bitcoins traveled. Less impressively, an address created in 2011 transferred 25 BTC (more than $400,000 anyway). On November 14, 2022, 50 bitcoins were transferred from May 2010, which had been dormant for more than 12 years, when the queen of cryptocurrencies was worth a mere penny.
Eligible Bitcoin Addresses: Before and After Satoshi Nakamoto
At Bitinfocharts.com you can find the 9 most consistent inactive bitcoin addresses. The first, created on March 1, 2011, “contains” 79,957 BTC (it is the eighth best-stocked address). It can be assumed that most of the inactive addresses created between 2009 and 2011 belong to Satoshi Nakamoto or his collaborators.
The last message from the creator of Bitcoin dates back to April 2011. Since then, his bitcoins have remained in various wallets. That would still be around 1,134,000 BTC (out of a total of 21 million)! Therefore, more than 5% of bitcoins will likely remain dormant forever. The oldest inactive address (without outgoing transaction) dates back to February 22, 2009 with an amount of 8000 bitcoins. The latest incoming mini-transactions from November 11, 2022 show “dust-throwing attacks”. The goal is to be able to link these scattered wallets to identifiable companies or individuals. If successful, hackers can use this information against their targets, through sophisticated phishing attacks or even cyber extortion threats.
The number of inactive bitcoin wallets is increasing
The number of wallets with no exit transactions has steadily increased over the years. Since the end of 2020, the number of inactive wallets has grown exponentially. This does not necessarily mean that the number of hodlers is increasing, but some wallets are simply not accessible: the loss of private keys is the main reason for this. Some may remember this investor willing to search the landfill to find his hard drive that contained his treasure. Sometimes just the death of the owner permanently eliminates the ability to recover bitcoins (or not?), unless the heirs simply threw out the recovery statement without knowing what it was.
Bitcoin seized by court
In 2012, a number of bitcoins were stolen from Silk Road exchanges (50,676 to be exact), and in 2014, 850,000 bitcoins disappeared from the MTGOX platform. 141,000 bitcoins from Mark Karpeles’ exchange have been seized by Japanese courts and will be returned to their owners. Until 2023. As for the Silk Road, they were restored in 2021. Therefore, new movements in bitcoin addresses are expected.
It is quite interesting that some addresses have held countless bitcoins for many years. When you see the outgoing transaction, you can imagine all kinds of stories around these mysterious addresses: Has the lucky owner lost their private keys? Did he find his dusty old computer in his parents’ attic? We would like to know more…
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Subprimes, financial crises, rapid inflation, tax havens… Bitcoin was meant to be more transparent and maybe it will finally change that. I am trying to understand and explain myself in this new environment. The road is certainly long, but it is worth it.
