Dormant Bitcoin whale moves $188M after seven years of silence

A Bitcoin wallet dormant since the cryptocurrency traded near $6,500 has transferred 2,931 BTC worth about $188 million, reviving onchain activity after seven years.

Summary

• A Bitcoin wallet inactive for seven years has moved 2,931 BTC worth about $188 million.
• Onchain data showed the wallet last became active when Bitcoin traded near $6,500, leaving the holder with an estimated tenfold gain.
• Whale sized transfers continue to dominate Bitcoin exchange inflows, a trend that analysts have historically linked to selling pressure.

Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham reported that the long-inactive holder moved the Bitcoin from wallet “356my” to a new address, “bc1qn”, on Sunday. The transfer is the wallet’s first recorded onchain movement since it last became active when Bitcoin was priced at roughly $6,500.

With Bitcoin now changing hands at around $64,000, blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens estimated the holder is sitting on nearly a tenfold gain from the original position.

Whale transfers continue to dominate exchange flows

The latest movement comes as large Bitcoin holders continue to account for most transfers into cryptocurrency exchanges, a trend that onchain data has linked to rising selling pressure.

CryptoQuant’s exchange whale ratio chart showed that about 99% of Bitcoin deposited to exchanges currently comes from the 10 largest individual transfers. The metric stood at 0.99 at the time of publication, indicating that whale-sized transactions continue to dominate exchange inflows.

According to CryptoQuant, elevated whale exchange ratios have historically been associated with bearish market conditions because large deposits are more likely to precede sizeable sell orders than routine transfers from retail investors.

Separately, data from Coinglass classifies transfers worth at least $10 million as whale transactions. Such movements have accounted for most Bitcoin flowing to exchanges in recent months, increasing trader focus on whether large holders are preparing to sell.

Selling pressure has also persisted from another direction. Data from Farside Investors showed that U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $197 million in net inflows during the week leading up to Friday, although the products posted $4.51 billion in net outflows throughout June, their weakest monthly performance on record.

Dormant wallets remain under close watch

Older Bitcoin wallets have continued attracting market attention because many are associated with early miners, long-term holders, or defunct trading platforms.

Earlier this year, crypto.news reported that a dormant whale destroyed 107 BTC worth about $8.3 million by sending the coins to an unrecoverable burn address after nearly 11 years of inactivity. Blockchain security firm AMLBot said the transactions may have been linked to the collapsed Mt. Gox exchange, although no entity behind the transfers was identified.

In a separate case reported by crypto.news, another Satoshi-era holder transferred 2,650 BTC worth more than $200 million to trading firms FalconX and Cumberland while retaining nearly 6,000 BTC

Although those transfers did not confirm an immediate sale, market participants closely tracked the movement because large transactions from early Bitcoin holders can introduce additional supply if the coins eventually reach exchanges.