A Bitcoin wallet dormant for over 13 years moved nearly 50 BTC on Thursday, Aug. 6. The address, which held 49.97 BTC, initiated the transaction in block 961331 at 20:14 UTC.
The wallet first received its coins on July 16, 2011, when Bitcoin traded around $10 per coin, according to Galaxy Research. The position sat untouched through more than a decade of market cycles, booms and crashes.
The transaction consolidated four inputs from the long-inactive address, totaling 49.97 BTC, then combined them with two smaller inputs from other addresses. Exactly 50 BTC moved to a SegWit address; a residual 0.00116 BTC went to a second output after network fees.
SegWit addresses—identifiable by their bc1 prefix—represent a newer Bitcoin address format that optimizes transaction space, making transfers more efficient and less costly on the network.
On-chain data shows the destination address is not newly created. It has been active for several years with a history of prior transactions, indicating an established entity or individual controls the receiving wallet.
Arkham data flags previous activity from that receiving address: it has sent 6.336 BTC and 16.131 BTC to addresses labeled as deposit points for FalconX, an institutional crypto brokerage. Inflows from wallets identified as a Nexo hot wallet and Prime Trust custody further point to a sophisticated operational setup at the destination.
As of Friday morning, the 50 BTC remained in the receiving SegWit address. No on-chain evidence shows these coins have moved further to FalconX, another exchange or a direct sale. The funds sit in the intermediate address.
Transfers from wallets dormant since Bitcoin's earliest years draw consistent market attention. The original cost basis here was roughly $500 total; at the current price of $64,305 per BTC, that position is worth $3.2 million.
Such transfers can reflect wallet upgrades, custody changes or preparations for a sale—nothing in the on-chain data confirms which applies here.
The move also comes as long-term holders reassess storage security. Coinkite, manufacturer of Coldcard hardware wallets, recently urged users to move funds after disclosing a firmware flaw dating to 2021 that exposed keys generated by affected devices. Attackers have exploited the vulnerability, sweeping an estimated $114 million from compromised wallets since July 30.
No evidence links this 2011 wallet's movement to the Coldcard issue—the wallet's creation predates the affected hardware by nearly a decade. The disclosure does, however, give early holders a concrete reason to audit legacy storage now.
