Bitcoin Whale Awakens After Nearly 13 Years—Why Now?

Another long-term Bitcoin  whale awakened on Thursday, moving a chunk of their $50 million in BTC holdings after nearly 13 years. 

The “HODLer” first acquired the 444.81 BTC in 2012, when it was trading for a little over $12 per coin, blockchain data shows. 

Their movements—a transaction shifting 137.03 BTC, or nearly $16 million in crypto, come after a number of long-time, large crypto investors also cashed out on at least part of their holdings.  

The most notable of these transactions occurred in July when a whale sold more than 80,000 Bitcoin—over $9 billion at the time—after holding the coins for 14 years. A Bitcoin whale is usually defined as an individual investor or entity that holds at least 1,000 BTC—worth $116.2 million at today’s prices—or more, although some analysts use the term for any big holder. 

Doug Colkitt, an early contributor to layer-1 blockchain Fogo and CEO of Crocodile Labs, told Decrypt that “when a wallet wakes up after 13 years, it’s never random.”

“Early whales are some of the sharpest operators in the space; they don’t move coins unless they see opportunity or risk,” he noted, adding: “Dormant whales remind us how young Bitcoin still is. Some of the biggest balances are controlled by early adopters who barely touch them.

In an email to Decrypt, Jeff Dorman, CIO of crypto-focused asset manager Arca, wrote that the trend may link to the growth of treasuries.

“While we can’t say for certain, our view is that some BTC whales may be reactivating because they’re being asked to contribute in-kind to newly formed digital asset treasuries,” he wrote, adding that long-time investors may be being asked to donate their coins. 

Those firms, following the lead of Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—have raised tens of billions of dollars to purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum and certain altcoins. 

And while analysts at JP Morgan said this week that investors are becoming fatigued by the trend, a number of companies that have  adopted the strategy have generated healthy stock price gains. 

When whales wake up, selling pressure sometimes follows as investors expect the entity to start liquidating their holdings. “A whale shifting after a decade spooks traders into front-running potential sell pressure,” Colkitt wrote. “The irony is that most of these transfers never hit exchanges, but the fear alone can move markets.” 

Bitcoin was recently trading at nearly $115,000, according to CoinGecko data, up about 1% over the past 24 hours and 4% over the past week. 

BTC is down from its all-time high above $124,000, set last month, although investors are largely optimistic about its future path.

In one Myriad market, nearly three in four respondents expect Bitcoin to be trading above $105,000 throughout September.

(Disclosure: Myriad is a prediction market and engagement platform developed by Dastan, parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.)