Bitcoin Whale Moves $34M in BTC Bought When Prices Were Just $131

A Bitcoin wallet that had remained inactive since 2013 has transferred 411.45 BTC, now valued at approximately $34 million. The transaction is part of a recent wave of activity involving wallets that have held their coins untouched for more than a decade.

According to blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence, the wallet transferred its entire balance of 411.45 BTC to a new address on Sunday. With Bitcoin trading near $82,600 per coin, the holdings are worth roughly $34 million. When the owner originally acquired the coins, the balance was valued at only about $54,000.

The transfer comes amid a broader movement of long-dormant Bitcoin holdings this month. Just one day earlier, two wallets that had been inactive for more than 10 years moved a combined 417 BTC. The previous week, another major holder transferred funds from a wallet that had remained inactive since before the COVID-19 market crash.

Similar activity occurred in 2025, when several large Bitcoin holders moved coins after years of inactivity. Such transfers often fuel speculation that early investors may be preparing to sell. However, many of these transactions involve funds moving to new private wallets rather than cryptocurrency exchanges, suggesting that security upgrades or wallet management may be the motivation instead of an immediate sale.

The wallet involved in Sunday’s transaction received approximately 411 BTC on Sept. 11, 2013, when Bitcoin was trading near $131. The owner then left the holdings untouched for roughly 13 years, without buying, selling or transferring the coins. During that period, Bitcoin’s value increased more than 600-fold as the market passed through three halving events, the 2017 bull run, the 2022 FTX collapse and the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in 2024.

Although the owner made no major transactions during those years, the wallet received dozens of small deposits, each worth less than a dollar. Some originated from addresses that Arkham identifies as linked to phishing activity.

These deposits are consistent with a scam technique known as address poisoning. Fraudsters send tiny amounts of cryptocurrency to prominent wallets, hoping the owner will mistakenly copy a fraudulent address from their transaction history when making a future transfer.

The owner appears to have avoided that trap.

At 18:23 UTC on Sunday, the entire Bitcoin balance was transferred to a new address. The transaction fee was just 337 satoshis, amounting to a fraction of a cent.

So far, the Bitcoin has not been sent to a cryptocurrency exchange. The destination wallet has received only this transfer and has not made any outgoing transactions. This lack of further activity supports the possibility that the move was routine wallet maintenance rather than preparation for a market sale.

The transaction also involved a change in address format. The original wallet used an older Bitcoin address type, while the new destination uses SegWit, specifically the P2WPKH format. This modern standard can offer lower transaction fees and improved transaction efficiency.

Long-term Bitcoin holders sometimes move their assets to updated wallet formats to improve security and reduce costs. Until the funds move again or reach an exchange, there is no clear evidence that the owner intends to sell the holdings.

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