In 2010, an anonymous person or organization that received a total of 2,000 BTC as Bitcoin (BTC) mining rewards recently consolidated all these rewards into a single wallet address. This sequence of transactions has attracted attention due to the recent increase in activity by Bitcoin whales.
From $600 to $140 Million
Developer mononautical shared details on social media platform X about the complex transaction where sets of 40 mining rewards, each containing 50 BTC, were moved to a single wallet. Data shows that the value of these BTCs, initially worth approximately $600, is now around $140 million due to the rapidly rising price of Bitcoin over the years.
As is known, Bitcoin miners receive BTC as a reward for each block they mine on the Bitcoin Blockchain. The block reward, which initially was 50 BTC, decreases by 50 percent approximately every four years. The most recent, the 4th block reward halving, is expected to occur on April 20th, reducing the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Mononautical noted that the increase in value of the mined BTCs from a few hundred dollars to $140 million is impressive, but what’s truly remarkable is that these BTCs were held without being sold for 14 years. CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju warned that consolidating funds into a single wallet address could indicate a potential liquidity crisis due to the awakening of old BTCs.
Major Bitcoin Whales in Action
In addition to these noteworthy transactions, many large transactions consisting of high amounts of BTC have been detected recently. Over the weekend, the fifth richest Bitcoin wallet address moved $6 billion worth of BTC to three new wallet addresses, capturing the attention of the crypto world. Similarly, in January, an individual transferred 26.9 BTC (worth $1.2 million at the time) from Binance to the Bitcoin network’s Genesis wallet, rendering the funds inaccessible.
All these transactions follow large-scale movements involving dormant Bitcoin wallet addresses, like in November 2023, when three whale-level wallet addresses moved 6,500 BTC (worth $230 million at the time) to new wallet addresses after being inactive since November 2017. Such movements often lead to speculation in the crypto world, shedding light on the behaviors of long-term investors and potential market dynamics.
