James Richardson
A long-dormant Bitcoin wallet containing 479.69 BTC (approximately $53.2 million) executed transfers for the first time in nearly 13 years on Thursday morning, according to onchain data.
Data from blockchain explorer Mempool shows five outbound transactions totaling about 81.25 BTC ($9 million) between 2:36 a.m. and 9:29 a.m. UTC.
The wallet last moved funds on Nov. 13, 2012, sending 4 BTC (worth around $44 at the time) when its balance was roughly 398 BTC, valued at $4,400. Over the next 18 months, it continued receiving around 81 BTC, nearly matching Thursday’s transfers.
From Legacy to Modern Bitcoin Addresses
All transactions shifted BTC from the legacy “16fXT” address to more modern “bc1q” native SegWit addresses. Aside from two minor test transactions, most of the funds remain unlabeled and unspent, leaving the reason for the movement and wallet ownership unknown, per analytics platform Arkham.
Bitcoin address evolution includes:
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P2PKH (legacy) addresses starting with 1
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P2SH addresses starting with 3
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Native SegWit (P2WPKH) addresses starting with bc1q
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Taproot (P2TR) addresses starting with bc1p
With Bitcoin trading around $111,000, the value of these coins has increased over 10,000 times since 2012. The original legacy address still holds 398.44 BTC (~$44.2 million).
Surge in OG Bitcoin Whale Activity
OG Bitcoin wallets have increased activity as BTC reached new highs.
In July, Galaxy Digital moved over 80,000 BTC ($9 billion) for a Satoshi-era investor’s estate planning needs, marking the first movement in 14 years for that wallet. The market absorbed the large sale without major disruptions.
More recently, a prominent Bitcoin whale has been rotating a significant portion of BTC into ETH, amassing nearly $4 billion in Ethereum from an initial $5 billion in Bitcoin holdings.
