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Following the awakening of numerous dormant bitcoins in March, April was rather uneventful, with just 72 transfers from idle wallets dating between 2010 and 2017. To date, May has seen 32 transfers from vintage wallets, moving about 1,181 more bitcoin in the past two weeks than during the whole month of April.
May Outpaces April in Dormant Bitcoin Wallet Awakenings
The most recent batch of dormant bitcoin wallet transactions from 2013 has pushed May ahead of April by about 1,181.32 BTC, valued at $74.46 million, in terms of so-called ‘sleeping bitcoin’ activity. This term refers to transactions involving bitcoins that have remained inactive or unmoved for a very long period, often exceeding a decade.
The web portal btcparser.com monitors 64,529 addresses from 2009 to 2017 that have remained idle since their creation. Most of these tracked addresses are from 2009 and 2010, with 21,519 wallets from 2009 and 12,396 addresses from 2010. In March, amid BTC’s high prices, a significant amount of BTC was moved, including thousands of coins from 2010, spent by the mysterious mega whale.
April witnessed a single 2010 block reward spent when the address “15sxz” transferred 50 BTC from the wallet for the first time since April 22 of that year. In 2011, only five transactions were recorded, totaling 1.257 BTC. Records for 2012 show two transactions, each spending 10 BTC, likely by the same owner, as both were spent in block 839,386 and both addresses were created on April 5, 2012.
A total of 13 transfers from 2013 were observed, amounting to 612.08 BTC. Ten transactions from 2014 saw approximately 365.263 BTC moved. The year 2016 saw prominent activity with 23 transactions, totaling 785.88 BTC. One user transferred 110 BTC in back-to-back transactions of 10 BTC each. Finally, 17 transactions from 2017 occurred, transferring 391.14 BTC.
In total, April saw 2,246.84 BTC worth $141.63 million at current exchange rates. So far, May has recorded 3,428.16 BTC worth $216 million. May also noted a single 2010 block reward spend, transferring 50 BTC from that year. Two transfers from 2011 spent 75 BTC, and three from 2012 spent 256.419 BTC. Approximately 1,202.432 BTC was spent from 2013 across 11 transactions.
Over two transactions, 1,005 BTC was transferred from 2014 wallets, and a single transfer from 2015 moved 30.54 BTC. Around 67.301 BTC was spent from 2016 wallets, and over eight transactions, 741.471 BTC was moved from dormant bitcoin addresses created in 2017. Thus, May has proven to be a more active month for waking up inactive, vintage wallets, leading April by 1,181.32 BTC, and the month isn’t over yet.
The increase in dormant bitcoin activity highlights a notable shift in the behavior of long-term holders. As more vintage wallets come to life, the market could see further implications on bitcoin’s liquidity and valuation. This trend underscores the unpredictable nature of bitcoin transactions and the enduring impact of early adopters in the cryptocurrency landscape.