Blockchain data shows that a Bitcoin wallet holding 4,581.94 BTC since March 2020 transferred the entire balance to five new addresses on Oct. 12. The single transaction moved about $377 million. The transfer confirmed in block 971,126 at about 18:37 UTC, with Bitcoin trading around $82,350. Four receiving addresses received exactly 1,000 BTC each, and the fifth received 581.94 BTC. The transaction paid a fee of 732 satoshis, or about 60 cents. A satoshi, also called a sat, is one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin. None of the five receiving addresses had spent anything as of block 971,279 on Oct. 13. The wallet's controller and the coins' destination remain unclear.
The wallet received coins on March 3, 2020, through a transaction that split a 5,081.95 BTC balance three ways. Two other addresses received 250 BTC each. The 4,581.95 BTC deposited into the wallet was worth about $40.5 million at roughly $8,830 per Bitcoin. The Bitcoin's value has increased nearly tenfold since then.
The coins remained in the wallet through several market shocks, beginning with the COVID-19 crisis shortly after the wallet received funding. The holdings' value fell from about $40.5 million to about $17.6 million during that crisis. Tesla suspended Bitcoin payments and China cracked down on mining in May 2021, driving the holdings' value from about $291 million at April's peak to $131 million by June. The Terra, Celsius and FTX collapses in 2022 would have reduced the holdings' value to about $71 million, about $239 million below the November 2021 peak. The Federal Reserve's rate increases also dragged the S&P 500 down about 25% as Bitcoin reached a two-year low. Trump's tariff shock also caused markets to fall. Bitcoin subsequently fell 54% from a record $124,728 to $57,735 before recovering to the current price. The wallet's value dropped from $571.5 million to about $265 million during that decline.
Blockchain data shows that the address received 22 small deposits, known as dust, between August 2020 and May 2026. The deposits ranged from 546 to 6,953 sats, worth less than $6 each at current prices. Sixteen deposits arrived through batch transactions that paid between 87 and 610 addresses at once. One deposit matches the pattern of address poisoning, in which an attacker creates a similar-looking address to induce someone to copy the wrong address from transaction history. An address beginning 18VpNbPc and ending pQ9x sent the wallet 600 sats on Jan. 28, 2025. The sender's address shares the first three and last four characters with the whale's address. The look-alike address received funding through a Nov. 12, 2024 transaction with 1,401 outputs. The look-alike address was emptied after sending that one payment. Every other sender used a bc1 address, unlike the wallet's legacy address beginning 18. The whale has not fallen for the apparent address-poisoning attempt.
Large Bitcoin holders, known as whales, move coins for reasons including privacy and safety. Analysts and traders fear that such transfers precede selling as holders seek to realize significant gains. An entity moved 80,000 BTC worth $8.6 billion in July 2025 after the coins had remained dormant for 14 years. That transfer was the biggest daily movement of coins aged 10 years or more. A Satoshi-era wallet sent 40,009 BTC, worth about $4.7 billion, to Galaxy ten days later. Galaxy later said Galaxy had executed a sale worth roughly $9 billion for a Satoshi-era client.
The original address held 23,288 sats in leftover dust, worth about $19, as of Oct. 13. The five receiving addresses held the full 4,581.94 BTC.
Bitcoin Whale Moves $377M After Withstanding Market Crashes Since 2020
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Summary
Bitcoin news broke on Oct. 12 as a major whale moved 4,581.94 BTC—valued at $377 million—from a wallet active since March 2020. The funds were split into five new addresses, four holding 1,000 BTC each and one with 581.94 BTC. The transaction confirmed in block 971,126 at 18:37 UTC, with Bitcoin analysis showing the price at $82,350. As of Oct. 13, none of the receiving addresses had made any outgoing transactions. The identity of the wallet’s owner and the purpose of the move remain unknown.
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