Forgotten Bitcoin From 2013 Resurfaces, Moving $23M in 2 Days

On Aug. 7 and 9, 2024, a few long-dormant bitcoin wallets from 2013 unexpectedly sprang to life after years of inactivity.

A couple of bitcoin wallets established in 2013, which had remained dormant for over a decade, have recently shown signs of life, making large transfers of BTC. The first case, which occurred on Aug. 7, 2024, at block height 855,704, involved an individual who moved 250 BTC — valued at just over $15 million at the time.

According to data from Blockchair.com, the BTC was moved from a single legacy Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash (P2PKH) wallet into several Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash (P2WPKH) or Bech32 wallets. Interestingly, despite multiple instances of the same address appearing in the inputs, Blockchair.com's privacy meter awarded the transaction a flawless score of 100.

However, the activity didn't end there. On Aug. 9, 2024, at block height 855,986, another entity transferred 10 BTC, but this was quickly followed by 12 additional transactions, each transferring 10 BTC. The wallets used in these transactions were created between late August and November 2013.

Altogether, the entity spent 130 BTC (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) across blocks 855,986 to 856,090. The funds left legacy P2PKH wallets for a P2WPKH wallet, which once held a 99.99 BTC balance, but now holds zero BTC, and has accumulated 658.18 BTC since its inception.

The privacy of these transactions wasn't as strong as the 250 BTC transfer, and it's also worth noting that the 130 BTC was moved using the 'send everything' option to the Bech32 wallet.

Between the 250 BTC and the 130 BTC, all originating from 2013 wallets across a total of 14 transfers, the total value amounted to just over $23 million at current BTC exchange rates.