A strange comeback was captured on-chain today, as a major Bitcoin (BTC) holder came back to life after nearly 12 years of inactivity. As first revealed thanks to a report from Whale Alert, 235 BTC, the equivalent of $17.43 million, came to life for the first time since March 2013.
However, their movement may upset some, as the address holder of these BTCs under the code “1QHvbR” were transferred to the wallet of major U.S.-based exchange Kraken.
According to the general consensus among crypto-market participants, such transfers are interpreted as the intention of a large investor to sell their assets by moving them from their own custody to a liquid cryptocurrency buying and selling platform.
This was likely the reason in our case, as the transfer occurred on the day Bitcoin hit a new high. Back in March, the price of one BTC was less than $100, and the cryptocurrency itself had just experienced its first bull run.
💤 💤 A dormant address containing 235 #BTC (17,434,111 USD) has just been activated after 11.7 years!https://t.co/WNZ8dnukSZ
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) November 6, 2024
But 12 years later, the price of Bitcoin is already over $75,000, and the asset itself is a full-fledged, institutionalized financial instrument with tens of millions of holders and a capitalization of nearly $1.5 trillion.
However, this unknown Bitcoin investor did not transfer all 235 BTC to Kraken, and most of the position remained in his wallet. Now, according to on-chain data, “1QHvbR” continues to hold 125.55 BTC, which equals about $9.31 million.
The question is whether these Bitcoins will be realized on some exchange, or whether the unknown investor will disappear again for a few years before resurfacing.