A group of early Bitcoin miner wallets suddenly came back to life on Thursday, transferring a total of 250 BTC — worth nearly $29.6 million at current prices — after remaining untouched for more than 15 years.
According to data from Arkham, the five wallets, each holding 50 BTC from block rewards mined in April 2010, sent all their coins to new addresses using the SegWit-enabled “bc1q” format. The original addresses used the legacy “1” prefix — a signature of Bitcoin’s early mining days when block rewards were still 50 BTC and the asset traded for only fractions of a cent.
Analysts from Lookonchain and Spotonchain flagged the unusual transactions on social media platform X, suggesting that the move to newer wallet formats could indicate a shift to more secure storage or asset consolidation.
Back in 2010, when those coins were mined, BTC was worth about $0.003, making a 50 BTC payout worth just around 15 cents. Mining costs were minimal — mostly limited to electricity and the use of basic CPUs. According to U.S. energy data from that year, the power cost of mining a single block likely didn’t exceed $1.
The reactivation of long-dormant wallets has been a recurring theme this summer, as early adopters begin to reshuffle their holdings or realize profits. So far, the market has absorbed these supply events with little disruption. Bitcoin is up more than 27% year-to-date and recently traded around $115,480.
Other wallets from the 2010–2013 era have also awakened in recent months, amid rising institutional interest in Bitcoin.
Earlier this week, Galaxy Digital facilitated the sale of over 80,000 BTC — worth more than $9 billion — for an early investor, calling it one of the largest nominal-value transactions in crypto history. The stash is believed to have originated from a long-dormant wallet dating back to the early Satoshi era. In mid-July, two massive transfers — 40,010 BTC and 40,191 BTC — were sent to Galaxy Digital. Since then, around 61,697 BTC from the original 80,201 BTC has reportedly been moved to exchanges, likely for liquidation.
The client’s identity was not disclosed, but blockchain data confirms the bitcoin came from a long-inactive wallet. Lookonchain reported that 80,009 BTC were transferred to Galaxy between July 16 and 17, followed by roughly 30,000 BTC moved to exchanges on Friday.
The transaction occurred on a volatile trading day for Bitcoin, with prices briefly dipping below $115,000 before rebounding above $117,000. Despite its size, the transaction had minimal visible impact on the market.
