Ancient Bitcoin Whale Moves Millions in BTC After 12 Years

A wallet that held more than 300 Bitcoin for over a decade was emptied on Friday as the asset’s price fell to a three-week low, blockchain data shows.

The wallet, which starts with “1c5Cb,” was first funded via a CoinJoin address in 2013, when the leading cryptocurrency by market cap changed hands around $75, according to crypto market data provider CoinMarketCap and analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.

Back then, Bitcoin was viewed as a financial curio and primarily used to purchase drugs on the darknet market Silk Road. The asset’s price has increased 152,300% since the wallet was first funded, yielding a $34.8 million sum, with Bitcoin recently hovering below $114,000.

Whoever acquired the Bitcoin is up massively on paper, but the stash is peanuts compared to some ancient Bitcoin awoken by the recent rally. Two weeks ago, a once-dormant address moved $4.7 billion to crypto exchange Galaxy Digital. After another round of transfers, the firm said it had sold 80,000 Bitcoin worth $9 billion on behalf of a client.

A smaller yet similar tranche of 50 Bitcoin worth $5 million was activated in April. Those funds were obtained in 2010, when the original cryptocurrency cost around $0.10.

Bitcoin could be caught up in a months-long correction phase as long-term holders cash in, on-chain data firm CryptoQuant warned this week. It said the market is absorbing major selling from whales, a term reserved for large holders, for the third time since 2024.

The Bitcoin moved on Friday did not appear to be heading to an exchange. The Bitcoin was split between two wallets, which held 106 Bitcoin and 200 Bitcoin, respectively.

CoinJoin addresses are used to enhance the privacy of Bitcoin transactions by combining multiple users’ Bitcoin into a single transaction. That it makes it harder for people to track the flow of transactions by obfuscating their origins and destinations.

The wallet did not receive the Bitcoin from mining. Experts have identified early Bitcoin miners as likely targets for quantum computers, when they become strong enough to crack Bitcoin’s encryption for early wallet-address types.

Quantum-vulnerable coins include those belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator. As the asset’s largest whale, they are believed to own 1.1 million Bitcoin, a sum worth $125 billion at current prices.