On-chain data shows a Bitcoin whale with a 4,000 BTC balance has woken up after a 14.3 years long slumber to spend 150 tokens.
Blockchain history shows this wallet collected the 4,000 BTC through mining rewards in 2011, implying the owner was an early miner. Back then, the block subsidy (the reward miners get for adding a new block to the chain) was worth 50 BTC, so it took the miner 80 blocks to assemble the stack.
The dormancy-breaking Bitcoin transaction involved a sum of 150 BTC ($16.6 million at transfer time), as the details below from Whale Alert show.
It’s possible that the move may have been to realize some of the profit that the Bitcoin wallet has accumulated over its long life. So far, this 150 BTC transaction is the only withdrawal that the whale has made, so it remains to be seen whether more transfers will follow.
As for who’s behind the transaction, it’s hard to say anything for sure. Usually, wallets that grow this old without spending do so by becoming lost. That is, by having their existence forgotten or keys misplaced.
“In 2025, Bitcoin movements of coins dormant for 7+ years have already exceeded 2024 levels, and there are still two months left,” noted the quant. So far, 2025 has seen 270,000 BTC move after being inactive for more than seven years, so by year’s end, the record could grow to 300,000 BTC.
Bitcoin is once again making an attempt at recovery as its price has surged to $111,100.
