Bitcoin News Today: 80 000 Bitcoin Moved From 14-Year-Old Wallets to Secure SegWit Addresses

A significant movement of 80,000 Bitcoin (BTC), each from a separate Satoshi-era wallet, was recorded on July 4, 2025, sparking widespread speculation within the cryptocurrency community. Each of these wallets held 10,000 BTC, and the transfers were directed toward new SegWit addresses, a format considered more secure against potential quantum computing threats [1]. The previous largest single Bitcoin transaction had been 3,700 BTC, making this event unprecedented in scale [1].

The wallets, dormant for 14 years, had been created during the 2009–2011 period, when Bitcoin could be mined using standard CPUs. The transactions used P2PK (Pay-to-Public-Key) addresses, which expose public keys and are deemed more vulnerable to quantum attacks than SegWit addresses [1]. Experts estimate that around 5.9 million BTC—approximately 25% of the total supply—are in such at-risk addresses [1]. By moving the BTC to SegWit, the wallet owner may have been taking proactive security measures.

The movement also included four OP_RETURN messages embedded in the blockchain between July 1 and July 4, 2025 [1]. These messages, including one that issued an ultimatum for the wallet owner to prove ownership by Sept. 30, 2025, were interpreted by some as a potential legal or scam tactic. However, no evidence of a security breach or hacking incident was confirmed [1]. Some industry observers suggested these were part of a spam campaign to mislead the wallet owner into revealing control of the funds [1].

On July 15, 2025, 10 days after the initial movement, 28,600 BTC from the same cluster were sent to Galaxy Digital. By that point, 9,000 BTC had been sold, potentially contributing to a market correction that saw Bitcoin dip roughly 5% from its recent all-time high of $123,000 [1]. This activity reignited concerns about the influence of whale movements on price volatility.

The 80,000 BTC originally purchased in 2011 would have cost the wallet owner approximately $197,200 at the average price of $2.45 per BTC at the time. At the current valuation of $118,000 per BTC, the holding is now worth $9.44 billion [1]. This makes the movement not just a technical or security event but also a potentially high-impact financial one.

Bitcoin developers, including Casa’s Jameson Lopp, have proposed a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) to address the long-term threat of quantum computing. The proposal aims to phase out wallets vulnerable to quantum attacks, a move seen as critical given that 25% of the supply is at risk [1].

Some speculation has linked the movement to Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” due to his early involvement in Bitcoin and his recent release on bail in June 2025 [1]. However, no definitive evidence has been provided to confirm this theory.

The movement highlights growing concerns about the future of Bitcoin’s cryptographic security in a post-quantum era. While experts estimate practical quantum attacks to occur between 2030 and 2048, proactive measures are being taken to secure the network against theoretical future threats [1].

Source: [1] [Quantum threat to Bitcoin? 80,000 BTC just moved after 14 years](https://cointelegraph.com/explained/quantum-threat-to-bitcoin-80-000-btc-just-moved-after-14-years?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound)