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As bitcoin hovers just below the $60,000 mark, two long-dormant bitcoin wallets, untouched since 2014 and 2013, sprang to life, moving a total of 342.59 BTC, valued at $20.3 million at today’s rates.
2 Vintage Bitcoin Wallets Suddenly Awaken, Moving $20.3 Million
On Wednesday, a bitcoin wallet that had been inactive since Aug. 18, 2014—almost a decade—suddenly transferred 200 BTC. This activity occurred while BTC was trading at $59,360 per coin at 11 a.m. EDT on Aug. 21. The transaction originated from a Pay-to-PubKey-Hash (P2PKH) legacy address and ended up in a Bech32 (Segwit) address, where the funds still reside at the time of writing.
Blockchair’s privacy tool rated the transaction a 45 out of 100, citing repeated appearances of the same address in inputs and the fact that the funds were swept. The transfer cost the entity 5,787 satoshis, or $3.44, with a fee rate of 4.47 satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vB). When moved, the 200 BTC was worth $11.8 million, though it was originally acquired for just $91,000.
Not long after the 200 BTC transfer, at block height 857,774, btcparser.com flagged another transaction: a 2013 wallet moved 142.59 BTC. This transfer also originated from a legacy P2PKH wallet and was sent to another P2PKH address. Blockchair rated this transfer slightly better, with a score of 55, and the fee was just 6 sat/vB, or $0.69, to move the 142.59 BTC. At the time of the transfer, the funds were valued at around $8.47 million.
The 142.59 BTC had not moved since it was first acquired on Nov. 20, 2013, when it was worth $84,270.69. Interestingly, the 342.59 BCH associated with these dormant two addresses remains untouched, still sitting in the old addresses with a current value of $116,470.