80,000 Bitcoin Worth $8.6 Billion Moved After 14 Years

On July 4, a significant event unfolded in the cryptocurrency world as eight Bitcoin wallets, dormant for 14 years, transferred a total of 80,000 BTC, valued at approximately $8.6 billion. This massive transaction, which exceeded the GDP of Montenegro, a small country in Southeast Europe, has raised eyebrows and sparked speculation about its origins and intentions.

The Bitcoin, which had been moved to the original wallets on April 2 or May 4, 2011, was transferred by a single entity. The transactions began with the transfer of 40,000 BTC from a dormant wallet, followed by four transactions of 10,000 BTC each over a span of 10 hours. The Bitcoins have not been sold or further transferred since the five transactions, and are currently held in eight new wallets.

Conor Grogan, Head of Product at Coinbase, expressed his skepticism about the transaction, calling it "extremely odd" and speculating that there is a "small possibility" that the transfer was a hack. He noted that if true, this would be the largest heist in human history. Grogan pointed to a Bitcoin Cash (BCH) test transaction that preceded the Bitcoin transfers as potential evidence of foul play. The entity that transferred the 80,000 Bitcoins also transferred 10,000 BCH, worth nearly $5 million, and back into one of the original wallets an hour before the transfer of the BTCs began. Grogan suggested that the owner of the wallets might have been trying to discreetly test the private key without attracting attention with the test BCH transaction.

However, many in the cryptocurrency community do not agree with Grogan's hack theory. Sani, a Bitcoin maximalist and founder of Timechain Index, believes that the transferred 80,000 BTC belong to Roger Ver, also known as ‘Bitcoin Jesus.’ Ver, an early Bitcoin investor, was arrested in Spain last year on U.S. charges of tax fraud. He allegedly owes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at least $48 million in taxes, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Sani noted that the transfers could be an indication that Ver has reached a deal with the IRS, and a settlement might be in the pipeline.

A former Pulsechain developer who goes by ‘bretep’ on X explained that it is practically impossible to hack a specific Bitcoin private key using any current technology. In fact, the chance is one in over 115 quattuorvigintillion (75 zeroes)—a person is more likely to get struck by lightning every day for 10,000 years straight, he explained, adding that the security isn’t just strong – it’s mathematically absurd to even attempt with any conceivable technology. With quantum computing, it’d take an estimated 30-40 years, but that is just theoretical at this point.

An X user who goes by ‘bizzy’ pointed out the logical flaw in Grogan’s conclusion. He stated that a scammer would not have transferred the BCH tokens before the BTC transactions since it could have risked “tipping off the owner.” Furthermore, barthazian.eth, a pseudonymous X user, claimed that the BCH transaction that Grogan pointed out as suspicious was a handshake transaction, which is common in cases of large over-the-counter transactions. Additionally, Optimism contributor and former Coinbase product manager Binji Pande noted that the slow pace of execution of the BTC transactions does not point towards a hack. He wrote that given how slowly these sends transpired, it’s hard to be convinced it’s a hack, I’d imagine they would be a bit faster with moving these funds.