Two Bitcoin wallets move 20,000 BTC after 14 years of dormancy

After more than 14 years of inactivity, two Bitcoin wallet addresses collectively holding 20,000 $BTC were activated late Thursday night, according to onchain data.

On April 3, 2011, Bitcoin wallet address "1HqXB...gDwcK" transferred 23,377.83 $BTC to three different destinations. Two of these addresses each received 10,000 $BTC, while the third took the remaining 3,377.83 $BTC, according to Blockchain.com data.

For 14 years, the two wallets that received 10,000 $BTC each — "12tLs...xj2me" and "1KbrS...AWJYm" — remained dormant. This changed across late Thursday night and early Friday morning, when they moved their respective 10,000 $BTC stashes to new addresses within 30 minutes of each other. The third wallet, which received 3,377.83 $BTC, had already spent or moved its funds back in 2011.

The receiving addresses have not moved the Bitcoin since. Receiving the 10,000 $BTC is the first transaction recorded on both addresses.

Over the 14 years of dormancy, the 20,000 $BTC has appreciated by 13,982,800% in value, rising from a mere $7,800 to $2.18 billion. The exact reason for the transfer, the owners’ identity, and whether a single individual controls both addresses remain unknown.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin held steady in the past day, down 0.09% to trade at $109,064 as of 1:30 a.m. on Friday. The world's largest cryptocurrency has managed to maintain a solid position above the $100,000 resistance line in recent weeks, where analysts say a longer-term macro catalyst could boost it through its all-time high of around $118,000.