After more than a decade of silence, a Bitcoin whale has shifted $40 million in BTC.

A long-inactive Bitcoin whale reemerged on Sunday, executing a $40 million BTC transfer after lying dormant for more than a decade.

According to blockchain monitoring service Whale Alert, the transaction took place at approximately 19:16 UTC. The funds were moved from the address “1KAA8GGhVjjUjVTz1HKAjCyGNzAKQd882j” to a newly generated wallet, “bc1qm6m6d33d02edr0k8yj9jgt027zl6dvx6thjrxy.”

On-chain data shows the wallet had not recorded any activity since November 2013, when the bitcoin was originally acquired and held untouched until now.

The motivation behind the transfer remains uncertain. Whale-sized holders often reorganize funds across wallets for security or internal management, though such moves can also signal impending sales or exchange deposits. In this case, the destination wallet does not appear to be associated with any major exchange.

Activity from dormant wallets has accelerated since bitcoin broke above the $100,000 threshold in late 2024. Over the past year, several early adopters and miners have begun moving long-held coins, with some ultimately cashing out following the market’s sharp appreciation.

The trend reached a peak in July last year, when blockchain analytics firms flagged eight Satoshi-era wallets—each holding 10,000 BTC—conducting their first transactions in 14 years. Those movements coincided with bitcoin trading above $100,000 and hovering near record highs.

At the time of writing, bitcoin was trading near $80,700, down more than 1% over the past 24 hours, based on CoinDesk market data.