Galaxy Research tracking shows that between August 16 and 26, six Bitcoin addresses that had been inactive since 2011, 2012, and 2014 respectively transferred assets totaling 553.59 BTC, worth approximately $40.15 million at the time of each transfer. It is uncommon for long-dormant addresses to awaken en masse, so such movements are typically closely monitored by on-chain research firms.
A total of 6 unusual transactions occurred within 10 days.
The earliest transaction occurred on August 16. An address that had not moved any funds since June 13, 2011, sent out 8.54 BTC. These assets, originally purchased in 2011 at approximately $14 each, were worth about $538,000 upon transfer.
On August 18, a larger transfer occurred. An address that had been dormant since August 10, 2012, sent 212 BTC, worth approximately $13.66 million. Several hours later, another address that had not moved since June 17, 2011, transferred 10.74 BTC, worth approximately $692,000.
On August 22, two transfers from old addresses occurred consecutively within approximately two hours. One transfer involved 150 BTC from an address that had been inactive since December 26, 2014, worth approximately $11.75 million. The other transfer involved three addresses from 2011, collectively sending 132.31 BTC, worth approximately $10.37 million.
The most recent transaction occurred on August 26. An address that had been dormant since May 28, 2012, sent out 40 BTC, worth approximately $3.14 million.
Two addresses are tagged with litigation-related labels.
Of the six unusual transactions, two addresses were labeled as related to "Salomon Client Dusted" or "Noah Doe." The report noted that these labels are connected to a lawsuit in New York, where the pseudonymous plaintiff, Noah Doe, sought to claim that 39,069 long-dormant Bitcoin addresses constitute unclaimed property in a New York court.
According to reports, the plaintiffs sent extremely small "dust" transactions to thousands of wallets, accompanied by on-chain messages as notifications. Galaxy Research stated that these address labels are related to the aforementioned case. Since the court stayed the default judgment in June, activity at the named addresses has increased, and two of the six recent transfers carried the associated labels.
A fund transfer to a German custodian institution
Of these transfers, only the most recent one clearly flows to a known institution. Galaxy Research stated that the 40 BTC transferred on August 26 were sent to Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a German digital asset custodial bank.
The destinations of the other five transfers have not yet been clearly linked to the exchange. This means these funds may have simply been transferred to a new cold wallet or could continue to be moved in the future.
The report also noted that recent activity among old addresses may be linked to two factors: first, the alert effect caused by the aforementioned New York lawsuit; second, after the firmware vulnerability incident involving the hardware wallet Coldcard at the end of July, some long-term holders moved their assets for security reasons. Decrypt previously reported that, around the time of the incident, approximately 233,000 BTC flowed out of long-term holder wallets.
However, neither of these explanations accounts for all six transactions in this instance. On-chain data shows that the frequency of reactivating old Bitcoin addresses has been increasing over the past six months, and, apart from one transaction that directly flowed to a custodial entity, most of these funds have not yet shown a clear selling path.