Bitcoin wallet dormant since 2012 moves 600 BTC, pushing decade-old reactivation tally to 1,971 BTC
Key Takeaways
- •A wallet that had been dormant for 14.2 years transferred 600 BTC, valued at about $51.9 million, in a transaction flagged Tuesday at 07:22 UTC with a network fee of roughly $4.86.
- •Galaxy Research logged a realized profit of $48.71 million on the transfer, but the wallet was funded when Bitcoin closed at $7.06 in July 2012, and shifting coins between addresses does not confirm a sale.
- •Four wallets untouched for more than a decade moved 1,971.03 BTC, approximately $161 million, between September 6 and 22, equal to about 0.01% of Bitcoin's roughly 19.8 million circulating supply.
- •One address dormant since July 2016 with an estimated cost basis near $652 per coin moved 1,260.78 BTC worth $100.63 million, an implied gain of about 12,122%, while the 2012-era coins are up more than 1,000,000%.
- •Three of the four reactivated wallets carry the 'Noah Doe' sender tag tied to a stayed New York Supreme Court case in which a plaintiff seeks to have 39,069 dormant wallets declared abandoned property.
A Bitcoin wallet that had remained untouched for more than 14 years transferred 600 BTC on Tuesday, a haul worth approximately $51.9 million, Galaxy Research wrote on X. The move lifts the two-week total of reactivated decade-old coins to 1,971 BTC across four wallets.
Galaxy logs a $48.71 million realized profit on the transfer
Address 1K6vURxUuK6uUCeXxk31PCyDahAu1raunh first received its Bitcoin on July 14, 2012, then fell silent for 14.2 years before signing a transaction in block 968116. Galaxy logged a realized profit of $48.71 million on the move.
The transfer was flagged on Tuesday at 07:22 UTC, when the haul was worth about $51.15 million at $85,252.28 per Bitcoin. The network fee came to 0.000057 BTC, roughly $4.86 at the flagged price. The coins were sent to a single new address, consolidated from inputs of 200, 200,100, 50, 25, 15 and 10 BTC.
The wallet was funded when Bitcoin traded in the single digits, before the network's first halving in November 2012: BTC closed at $7.06 on July 10, 2012, which put 600 coins at roughly $4,236. That difference reflects Bitcoin's appreciation rather than the owner's actual cost or profit, and moving coins between addresses does not confirm a sale.
A July 2016 address supplied 1,260.78 BTC of the $161 million
Between September 6 and 22, four wallets that had not been touched in over a decade moved 1,971.03 BTC, a total of about $161 million. One of them, quiescent since July 2016, carried an estimated cost basis near $652 per coin and moved 1,260.78 BTC, or $100.63 million — an implied gain of roughly 12,122%. The 2012 coins are up more than 1,000,000%.
Other reactivations include a wallet holding 10.25 BTC, now worth about $883,000, untouched since March 2011, and another that shifted 100 BTC worth $8.09 million, dormant since November 2011. A six-wallet stretch in mid-August moved approximately $40 million, and 202.84 BTC moved between August 29 and September 4.
The two-week total represents roughly 0.01% of Bitcoin's circulating supply of about 19.8 million coins.
On-chain analytics show that three of the four wallets carry the sender tag "Noah Doe," including the 100 BTC address tagged "Noah Doe #3113" that moved on September 19. Analytics firms apply tags like these when public records tie an address to an entity or legal proceeding. The tags relate to a New York Supreme Court case filed on March 11 and amended on May 1, in which a pseudonymous plaintiff seeks to have 39,069 dormant wallets declared abandoned property. Judge Kathy J. King has kept the case stayed since early June, leaving the abandonment claim unresolved.
The wave of movement between August 29 and September 4 also included a 6.78 BTC transfer tagged to Coinbase.
Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn said in July that dormant Bitcoin movement in the second quarter had fallen to its lowest level since Q3 2022, with 2026 on pace to reactivate less than half the coins that moved in 2025, Cryptopolitan reported.
