Jonathan Gray
In one of the wildest events in Bitcoin’s history, a long-dormant bitcoin whale moved 80,000 BTC, worth approximately $8.6 billion, on July 4, 2025. The wallets involved had been inactive since 2011, sending shockwaves of speculation, curiosity and concern across the Bitcoin space.
This was the largest transfer of old bitcoin ever recorded. According to data from Lookonchain and Arkham Intelligence, the coins originated from early mining rewards—referred to as “coinbase transactions”—and hadn’t been touched in over 14 years.
“This is the largest daily movement of coins aged 10 years or more in Bitcoin’s history,” said Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant.
The wallets involved are believed to be from the “Satoshi era” when Bitcoin was still unknown and the coins were trading for less than a dollar. The original value of these coins was reportedly between $0.78 and $3.37 per BTC, so the gains in 2025 are astronomical.
Each 10,000 BTC transfer moved over $1 billion in value and the entire 80,000 BTC is now in new unused wallet addresses. Importantly, the coins were not sent to exchanges so the owner is not necessarily planning to sell, at least not yet.
The addresses involved in this huge exodus included:
“In eight years of analyzing Bitcoin, I have never seen anything like this,” said J.A. Maartun, another CryptoQuant analyst.
The massive transfer has triggered a flood of theories in the community. Among the most popular are:
1. Profit Taking:
With bitcoin recently trading above $110,000 some believe the original holder is cashing out at a peak after over a decade of waiting. A 137,000x return is hard to ignore.
2. Security Update or Recovery:
Some think the move might be due to updated cold storage methods or recovering lost keys. A test transaction using Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was noted before the main transfers, possibly to verify access to the wallets.
3. Government Involvement:
One theory is that the transfer is related to a new U.S. initiative called the “Big Beautiful Bill (BBB)” signed by President Trump, so the government may be setting up a bitcoin reserve.
4. Hack or Theft:
Another possibility, although very unlikely, is that the wallets were compromised.
On-chain analyst Sani has an interesting theory.
The timing of these movements—just weeks after digital asset figure Roger Ver was released from a Spanish prison—has Sani speculating that Ver could be involved, given his early mining history and recent legal troubles.
Some believe these coins belong to Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. They say Satoshi kept mining during the early years of Bitcoin, and this is part of his stash, which has remained untouched to this day.
Satoshi’s real identity remains unknown to this day.
Many names have been thrown around over the years—Hal Finney, David Schwartz, Craig Wright, even Elon Musk—but Satoshi remains a mystery.
Related: Was Hal Finney “Satoshi”? Jameson Lopp Argues Otherwise
At the time of the transfers, bitcoin was at $107,900, down slightly from its all-time high of $111,814 in May. No actual selling has occurred, but the movement has spooked investors.
Whale activity is seen as a warning sign of price drops and can move the market. But analysts note that whale demand is also increasing and this could just be asset reorganization, custody changes, or arbitrage, and not necessarily a sell-off.
For now, the markets wait, with bated breath, for what’s next.
