Bitcoin OG Stuns Market: $8.69B in BTC Moved After 14-Year Slumber

TLDR:

• Milestone: Eight Bitcoin wallets, dormant for over 14 years, transferred 80,009 BTC (worth approximately $8.69 billion) on July 4, 2025, with a 24-hour trading volume impact of $4.35 billion, achieving a 10 million percent return from a $217,600 initial investment in 2011.
• Narrative: The massive 80,009 BTC transaction by a Bitcoin OG after 14 years of inactivity has set the market abuzz with speculation, mixing profit-taking fear with FOMO-fueled optimism for new Bitcoin price highs.

On July 4, 2025, eight Bitcoin wallets, silent since 2011, roared back to life, transferring 80,009 BTC valued at roughly $8.69 billion, marking a seismic event in the crypto world. According to Lookonchain, a “Bitcoin OG” controlling these wallets moved 40,000 BTC (worth $4.35 billion) within 24 hours, with a trading volume impact of $4.35 billion. The wallets, holding coins acquired at $0.78 to $3.37 in April and May 2011 (totaling roughly $217,600), now boast a staggering 10 million percent return at Bitcoin’s current price of about $107,800.

It began with two wallets, which transferred 10,000 BTC from April 2, 2011 (worth $15,600 then and $2.18 billion now) within 30 minutes of each other. Six additional wallets, which held 60,009 BTC from May 4, 2011 (worth $202,000 then, $6.52 billion now), followed, with four wallets transferring their contents and four being inactive. Blockchain.com reports that the transfers moved the funds to newer, lower-fee address formats, but the receiving addresses have seen no further activity as of July 5, 2025.

Theories from the crypto community as to what the OG’s motives are range from profit-taking to an attempt to move prices, with X posts both fearing and hoping. The price of Bitcoin dropped 1.5 percent from $108,760 to $107,700 following the news. The action is one of a trend of inactivity wallet activations with 62,800 BTC moved during Q1 2025, 121 percent more compared to Q1 2024, as per Onchain School. The same September-October 2024 whale move preceded Bitcoin’s all-time high breach above $100,000 in December 2024, restoring new all-time high hopes amidst short-term market jitters.

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