Long-Silent Bitcoin Whales Spring to Life, Relocating $2 Billion in BTC

Much like a massive whale stirring the waters, large on-chain transactions from significant bitcoin (BTC) holders — often called crypto whales — tend to spark waves of speculation in the market about potential sales and price impacts.

Early Friday, two wallets identified as “12tLs…xj2me” and “1KbrS…AWJYm” moved a total of 20,000 BTC, worth over $2 billion, to new blockchain addresses. These sizable transactions were initially spotted by blockchain tracker Whale Alert and later reported by Lookonchain.

The coins in these wallets date back to April 3, 2011, when bitcoin was trading at around $0.78. With bitcoin now priced above $109,000, the value of these holdings has skyrocketed by roughly 140,000 times, giving the whales plenty of reason to consider taking profits.

Many longtime bitcoin investors have already begun selling since the cryptocurrency crossed the $100,000 mark in May.

However, current blockchain data shows that the recent transfers landed in new, non-exchange wallets, which have not seen further activity since receiving the funds. So far, there’s no concrete indication that these whales intend to liquidate their holdings.

It remains uncertain whether these movements will result in eventual sales, or if the whales are merely reorganizing their assets after more than a decade of dormancy.