Bitcoin Wallets Move 20,000 BTC Worth $2.18 Billion After 14 Years

Two Bitcoin wallets that had remained inactive for over 14 years were reactivated late Thursday night, collectively transferring 20,000 BTC, worth approximately $2.18 billion at current prices. The unexpected movement of these long-dormant funds has drawn widespread attention across the cryptocurrency community.

According to onchain data, the wallets can be traced back to a transaction on April 3, 2011, when Bitcoin address “1HqXB…gDwcK” transferred a total of 23,377.83 BTC to three different destinations. Two of those addresses—“12tLs…xj2me” and “1KbrS…AWJYm”—each received 10,000 BTC, while the remaining 3,377.83 BTC was sent to a third address, which later moved or spent the funds within the same year. Since that 2011 transfer, both 10,000 BTC wallets had remained untouched until this week. The addresses had no prior outgoing transactions until they were both activated within 30 minutes of each other, sending their entire holdings to new, unidentified addresses. The recipient wallets have not moved the funds since receiving them.

Over the 14-year period of inactivity, the value of the 20,000 BTC increased dramatically, surging from $7,800 in 2011 to $2.18 billion as of early Friday morning—a staggering 13,982,800% appreciation. The original transfer took place when Bitcoin was trading at around $0.39 per coin. Despite the scale of the movement, the identity of the wallet owners remains unknown. It is also unclear whether the two addresses were controlled by the same entity or by different individuals.

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