Two Bitcoin wallets dormant since 2010 suddenly moved 100 BTC — roughly $6.9 million — in the early hours of Friday, adding fresh activity to a growing wave of century-old coins waking up.
Whale Alert flagged the first transfer at 04:08 UTC on November 13, when a 50 BTC output (about $3.44 million at current prices) that hadn't been spent since September 2010 was spent. Just over two minutes later, a second 50 BTC output from another 2010-era address moved. Both sums were original mining rewards from blocks mined on September 8 and September 19, 2010 — back when a 50 BTC block reward was worth only a few dollars. At Bitcoin prices of roughly $68,800 per coin on Friday, the combined value of the two rewards was about $6,885,068.
That kind of long-term appreciation is staggering: those two 50 BTC rewards were worth roughly $3 apiece in 2010, meaning their value has climbed roughly 1,147,511× — a 114,751,033% increase — when measured against Bitcoin’s market price. That percentage reflects unrealized gains (the increase in BTC’s market value); whether any profit was actually realized is unknown, since the blockchain record does not reveal motives or the identity of the holder.
On-chain details show the coins were consolidated rather than immediately sold. The first transaction split the 50 BTC into two outputs — nearly 49.99 BTC to one address and ~0.01 BTC to another — and the second did something similar, sending nearly 49 BTC to one output and about 1 BTC to another. Each transaction paid just 1,110 satoshis in fees (roughly $0.75). As of an on-chain check around 14:00 UTC Friday, the newly consolidated outputs had not moved again and no sale or exchange deposit has been identified.
This activity fits a wider pattern observed in 2026 of decade-old Bitcoin changing hands. Galaxy Research highlighted in August that coins untouched for at least 10 years have been moving at an unusually high pace; in one 10-day window, six vintage wallets from 2011–2014 moved a combined 553.59 BTC (more than $40 million at the time). Analysts and on-chain sleuths have repeatedly noted these movements can reflect a range of non-sale reasons — wallet upgrades, security-driven transfers, or moves to professional custody — not just liquidations or peer-to-peer sales.
A final note on price context: Bitcoin’s market was tiny in September 2010, with trades generally in the $0.05–$0.07 range. Mt. Gox had only just launched that July, recording its first trade at $0.04951 per coin, which helps explain why those early 50 BTC block rewards were essentially pocket change then but are worth millions now.
The blockchain records the path of these coins, but not who controls them. For now, 100 BTC mined 16 years ago sit in new addresses — another reminder that even very old Bitcoin can reappear at any time.
Whale Alert flagged the first transfer at 04:08 UTC on November 13, when a 50 BTC output (about $3.44 million at current prices) that hadn't been spent since September 2010 was spent. Just over two minutes later, a second 50 BTC output from another 2010-era address moved. Both sums were original mining rewards from blocks mined on September 8 and September 19, 2010 — back when a 50 BTC block reward was worth only a few dollars. At Bitcoin prices of roughly $68,800 per coin on Friday, the combined value of the two rewards was about $6,885,068.
That kind of long-term appreciation is staggering: those two 50 BTC rewards were worth roughly $3 apiece in 2010, meaning their value has climbed roughly 1,147,511× — a 114,751,033% increase — when measured against Bitcoin’s market price. That percentage reflects unrealized gains (the increase in BTC’s market value); whether any profit was actually realized is unknown, since the blockchain record does not reveal motives or the identity of the holder.
On-chain details show the coins were consolidated rather than immediately sold. The first transaction split the 50 BTC into two outputs — nearly 49.99 BTC to one address and ~0.01 BTC to another — and the second did something similar, sending nearly 49 BTC to one output and about 1 BTC to another. Each transaction paid just 1,110 satoshis in fees (roughly $0.75). As of an on-chain check around 14:00 UTC Friday, the newly consolidated outputs had not moved again and no sale or exchange deposit has been identified.
This activity fits a wider pattern observed in 2026 of decade-old Bitcoin changing hands. Galaxy Research highlighted in August that coins untouched for at least 10 years have been moving at an unusually high pace; in one 10-day window, six vintage wallets from 2011–2014 moved a combined 553.59 BTC (more than $40 million at the time). Analysts and on-chain sleuths have repeatedly noted these movements can reflect a range of non-sale reasons — wallet upgrades, security-driven transfers, or moves to professional custody — not just liquidations or peer-to-peer sales.
A final note on price context: Bitcoin’s market was tiny in September 2010, with trades generally in the $0.05–$0.07 range. Mt. Gox had only just launched that July, recording its first trade at $0.04951 per coin, which helps explain why those early 50 BTC block rewards were essentially pocket change then but are worth millions now.
The blockchain records the path of these coins, but not who controls them. For now, 100 BTC mined 16 years ago sit in new addresses — another reminder that even very old Bitcoin can reappear at any time.