Bitcoin Whales Have Awakened From Their 10-Year Slumber, Provoking Market-Wide Speculation

In recent hours, a large sum of Bitcoin has been moved after lying still for more than 10 years, provoking wild speculation and excitement across the crypto markets.

A recent activity by two "whales" transferring a large sum of Bitcoin (BTC) after more than 10 years has sparked lively discussion and speculation within the cryptocurrency community.

Two large Bitcoin addresses, which market analysts term “whales,” have come back to life after more than a decade of inactivity.

These types of transactions are interesting to market analysts because they are tracking the movement of Bitcoin from the early days of the network—often called “Satoshi-era” Bitcoin. These coins were among the first to be mined and are highly prized within the community.

It is common knowledge that addresses associated with these coins should be watched closely, as any movement of coins from these addresses is probably a good indicator of major market activity.

But what might have caused these whales to move such a large—really, huge—sum after so long? Is someone, or some entity, just testing out a movement of Bitcoin? Is it a sign of something more sinister at work? Or, to be completely honest, was it the first real whale sighting of 2023?

Historic Whale Movements: Over $324 Million in Bitcoin Shifts After 10 Years

In a series of events that has quickly captured the attention of the cryptocurrency world, two enormous Bitcoin addresses, previously thought to be inactive for an incredible period, have suddenly come back to life after more than a decade of dormancy.

These institutions, or individuals, holding these fortunes have been the subject of much gossip and speculation, especially during times of market turbulence or significant price shifts.

One particular whale, known as “1NWPS,” was seen transferring a massive 2,343 BTC—valued at about $222.2 million—to a new wallet. This staggering sum had been lying dormant for over 10 years.

Meanwhile, another equally impressive BTC fortune was on the move as another huge whale, “1PiEK,” which hadn’t been seen in a staggering 11.75 years, was spotted transferring a smaller but still significant sum of 1,079 BTC, valued at approximately $102.5 million.

🚨 $324.2M in #Bitcoin on the move after over 10 years of dormancy !

In the past 3 hours, two Satoshi-era whales, who had been inactive since 2014, transferred 3,422 $BTC ($325M) to new wallets :

💎 Whale “1NWPS” woke up after 10.5 years, moving 2,343 $BTC (~$222.2M).

💎 Whale…pic.twitter.com/UKb78WJDXp

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) May 6, 2025

The transfers have raised eyebrows because of the coins’ age and the market situation. Most analysts would say that Bitcoins held for that long must be moved for some very good reasons.

What might cause even the quietest of Bitcoin holders to become active? Especially considering that Bitcoin is at a record price, and these appear to be very large transfers.

This occurrence syncs well with past large movements of capital in and out of cryptocurrencies, where we’ve seen long-dormant Bitcoin wallets being reactivated during periods of significant up-swings in the market.

As the price of Bitcoin has just broken upwards past the $90,000 level, it does make one wonder if these so-called Bitcoin whales might have been behind that market movement. Be it capitalizing on the current bull run or responding to the heightened volatility of the market and movements of price highs and lows, it remains to be seen what these Bitcoin whales do next.

BlackRock’s Aggressive Bitcoin Acquisition: $4.44 Billion in Two Weeks

In a different bit of institutional activity, one of the biggest asset managers in the world, BlackRock (NYSE:), has been aggressively accumulating Bitcoin (BTC) in recent weeks.

According to crypto analytics firm Lookonchain, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NYSE:) has absorbed another 41,452 BTC—valued at approximately $3.92 billion—in the last two weeks. This brings the ETF’s total Bitcoin holdings to 620,252 BTC, or roughly $58.51 billion.

"BlackRock bought another 5,613 #BTC($529.5M) and now holds 620,252 $BTC($58.51B).

Last time Beii reported that @iShares bought large amounts of #BTC was on April 20, when it bought 14,988 BTC.

From April 21 to May 5, BlackRock has bought a total of 47,064 BTC