From $11K to $60M, OG Bitcoin Whale Reaps Big After 12 Years

A Bitcoin whale has awakened from a 12-year slumber to see their investment in the primary cryptocurrency rake in millions of dollars in returns.

According to a tweet by blockchain tracker Whale Alert, the whale activated the dormant address containing 1,000 bitcoins (BTC) after precisely 11 years and eight months.

In 2012, the 1,000 BTC was worth $11,908; however, at the time the whale activated the wallet, the stash’s value had increased to roughly $60 million per bitcoin’s current price. The address owner moved the bitcoins out in two transactions containing 998.73 BTC and 1.2632 BTC.

Bitcoin Whales Are Awakening and Accumulating

The Bitcoin whale spotted by Whale Alert is not the only one that has awakened recently. Last month, on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain revealed that a wallet that had been asleep since 2018 awoke and transferred 8,000 BTC to the leading crypto exchange Binance.

Roughly six years ago, the 8,000 BTC stash was worth $30.4 million, but at the time of the transfer, it had increased to $535 million. 

While some whales are waking up from years-old slumbers, others are increasing their BTC holdings. Over the past weeks, on-chain analysts have found that Bitcoin whales have been on an accumulation spree regardless of the market drawdown that saw BTC lose a substantial portion of its value. 

Crypto analytic platform Santiment disclosed last week that Bitcoin whales have been scooping up the assets being offloaded by small traders. Bitcoin holders controlling at least 0.1% of the total BTC supply have been increasing their bags by adding thousands of coins since late June.

In addition, the number of whale and shark wallets has been increasing. CoinTab reported last week that wallets holding at least 10 BTC have increased by more than 261 since the beginning of the month. This highlights the confidence of this cohort of investors in Bitcoin’s long-term potential.

BTC Recovers

Continuous BTC buying from large investors, including institutions, coupled with notable macroeconomic events in the United States, have had a positive effect on the price of bitcoin. For the first time in two weeks, BTC surged above $63,000, and the total market capitalization has risen by more than $100 billion.

At the time of writing, BTC was worth $62,770, up 5.2% in the past 24 hours.