The Bitcoin community was stunned by the recent movements from ancient Bitcoin whales—dormant for 14 years—which suddenly sprung to life, moving over $1.1 billion worth of BTC. The funds originally entered two legacy addresses back in April 2011 when Bitcoin traded at just $0.78, suggesting a 140,000x profit as of the latest Bitcoin price.
On Thursday and Friday, both wallets transferred 10,000 BTC each within a 30-minute window. They moved the coins to modern addresses in a manual and methodical process while surprising movements raised red flags.
Speaking onto this, Director at Coinbase Conor Grogan suggested the wallets might have been compromised or hacked. He noted a single BCH test transaction preceded the massive BTC moves—possibly signaling someone was testing the keys privately. Since BCH isn’t widely tracked, it’s often used to avoid detection. The fact that associated BCH wallets remained untouched added more suspicion.
Expert Speculation Builds
Grogan ruled out exchange wallets, citing the absence of automation. He described the activity as oddly manual. Consequently, speculation erupted that the keys may have been compromised. If true, this would mark the largest crypto theft in history.
Grogan mentioned that the addresses probably belonged to an early Bitcoin miner, often called an “OG.” However, the ownership of these wallets likely changed hands several times over the years. Besides the two wallets in question, six more, each holding 10,000 BTC, moved their funds 2 days later. All eight wallets can be traced to one combined origin.
Altogether, these wallets held more than $8 billion worth of BTC at the time.
Also Read: Bitcoin Whales Are Waking Up, What Do They Know About BTC Price?
