According to data from Whale Alert, a service that tracks and reports major blockchain market moves, a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet over 9 years old suddenly became active again on July 12, 2021. The wallet holds 791 BTC, valued at about 26.1 million USD.
The last transaction from this Bitcoin wallet was on June 16, 2021, when 50 BTC were transferred in. Before that, around 740 BTC were deposited on June 1, 2012, back when the crypto market was still in its infancy and largely unknown. At that time, BTC was worth roughly 10 USD per coin. Remarkably, since then, the wallet remained completely dormant with no withdrawals or transfers, even as Bitcoin hit its all-time high in April 2021.
It wasn’t until mid-July 2021, while the crypto market was still reeling and struggling to recover, that the mysterious Bitcoin wallet suddenly became active again. Whale Alert reports that 640 BTC, worth over 21 million USD, were withdrawn from the account on July 12. It’s still unclear whether these coins were sold on an exchange or moved to a more secure cold wallet.
The identity of the wallet’s owner has sparked much speculation in the crypto community. Some experts believe this could be a forgotten wallet belonging to an early Bitcoin buyer who lost access for years. For some reason, this person couldn’t access their wallet holding hundreds of BTC purchased at a bargain price in 2012. Recently, the owner might have remembered or recovered the password, finally unlocking this extremely valuable stash.
After more than 9 years, BTC is trading around 32,600 USD (according to Binance data as of 9 PM on June 13, 2021). That means the 791 BTC, originally worth about 7,910 USD in June 2012, is now valued at roughly 26.1 million USD. This amount is still well below Bitcoin’s all-time peak price of 64,800 USD reached in April.
Just over a month ago, another Bitcoin wallet holding 900 BTC created in 2012 also suddenly came back to life after 9 years of inactivity. That wallet, worth tens of millions, is believed to belong to an early crypto investor who had forgotten their password for years before finally recovering the “treasure key”.
Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to become a millionaire by rediscovering old BTC holdings. According to crypto data firm Chainalysis, out of the roughly 18.5 million Bitcoins in existence today, about 20% are lost or stuck in wallets that can’t be accessed for various reasons, including lost passwords.
