Two of the largest known Bitcoin wallets of all time, which have remained dormant since 2011, have mysteriously come back to life and transferred a total of 20,000 Bitcoin - over 2 billion dollars at today's prices - to completely new addresses.
The return of these wallets from the Satoshi era has sparked controversy over the true circulating supply of Bitcoin, the fate of lost coins, and the potential for new volatility as the market fluctuates at all-time highs.
The two wallets, which were opened in April 2011 when Bitcoin was trading at just $0.78, each transferred 10,000 Bitcoin on July 4, 2025. Analysts from Blockchain at Whale Alert and Lookonchain pointed to these moves before other on-chain data accelerated for verification.
Bitcoin, now valued at over a billion dollars per wallet, has remained completely dormant through three bear markets, the Mt. Gox collapse, and Bitcoin's round over $110,000.
Most importantly, the coins were not deposited in exchanges, but rather into new addresses, leading speculators to suspect that the owner may be enhancing wallet security or preparing for future transactions rather than selling.