Tag: dormant

  • Silk Road crypto activity resurfaces as dormant Bitcoin wallets move again

    Silk Road crypto activity resurfaces as dormant Bitcoin wallets move again

    Silk Road crypto activity resurfaces as dormant Bitcoin wallets move again

    • Silk Road-tagged wallets sent $3.14 million in Bitcoin across 176 transfers this week.
    • The transactions are the most significant Silk Road-linked activity in five years.
    • The wallets sent funds to a new address beginning with bc1qn.

    Silk Road-linked cryptocurrency activity has resurfaced, drawing attention to long-quiet Bitcoin wallets connected to the darknet marketplace.

    The movement comes less than a year after US President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

    While the pardon focused global attention on Ulbricht’s legal case, blockchain analysts are now tracking renewed activity that marks the highest level of transfers in years.

    The latest movement, recorded on Tuesday, is raising fresh questions about dormant coin reserves linked to the marketplace and how much Bitcoin remains undiscovered or untouched across older blockchain addresses.

    Silk Road wallets show renewed Bitcoin flows

    Silk Road-tagged wallets transferred about $3.14 million worth of Bitcoin BTC $92,626, according to Arkham. The activity involved 176 transactions, making it the most significant movement from these addresses in five years.

    Earlier this year, the same wallets carried out only three small test transactions, suggesting that substantial activity had been paused.

    The transfers this week were sent to an unknown cryptocurrency wallet with the address prefix bc1qn.

    The primary Silk Road-associated wallets still hold about $38.4 million in Bitcoin.

    The newly created address holds only the transferred $3.14 million.

    Pardon puts focus back on historic Silk Road funds

    Interest in the wallets has intensified since January, when Trump issued a full pardon to Ulbricht.

    Before the pardon, Ulbricht had been serving a double life sentence without parole for creating and operating Silk Road, which allowed anonymous trading of illicit goods using Bitcoin.

    The pardon also sparked new activity around the Free Ross campaign.

    Supporters have contributed about $270,000 in Bitcoin donations since the announcement, based on on-chain data.

    Unseized Bitcoin linked to Ulbricht gains attention

    Alongside the renewed transfers, discussions have shifted to older cryptocurrency holdings believed to be connected to Ulbricht but never seized by authorities.

    The US government previously confiscated at least $3.36 billion in Bitcoin from Silk Road, marking one of the largest recoveries in the history of digital asset enforcement.

    Yet blockchain analysts tracking historical movements have identified additional reserves that remain untouched.

    Coinbase exchange director Conor Grogan highlighted that 430 BTC, worth about $47 million, has not moved for more than 13 years.

    These tokens are held in wallets thought to be linked to Ulbricht.

    Dormant Bitcoin wallets remain a focal point

    Another Silk Road-tagged wallet likely controlled by Ulbricht contains about $8.3 million in Bitcoin.

    This wallet has seen only three small test transactions over the past 10 months and has otherwise remained inactive for 14 years, according to Arkham.

    The transfers observed this week have therefore shifted attention back to dormant Bitcoin reserves that could hold substantial amounts.

    Experts monitoring historical blockchain activity note that movements involving older darknet-linked wallets often prompt speculation about ownership, recovery efforts, or changes in operational control.

    The recent activity does not clarify why these wallets began moving again or who controls the receiving address.

    However, the timing, extended periods of inactivity, and historical significance of the addresses have made the transfers notable within the crypto community.

    As blockchain analysis tools improve and more historical data becomes searchable, renewed activity from legacy darknet sources continues to shape conversations about unseized assets and the long-term movement patterns of early Bitcoin holdings.

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  • Ethereum ascends: Institutional pivot and dormant whale moves signal a new era

    Ethereum ascends: Institutional pivot and dormant whale moves signal a new era

    Ethereum ascends: institutional pivot and dormant whale moves signal a new era

    • Bit Digital shifts treasury from Bitcoin (BTC) to over 100K ETH.
    • Dormant Ethereum wallets move millions after 10 years.
    • ETH/BTC bull flag hints at a 35% breakout by August.

    Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, is stepping into what many believe could be a transformative phase, marked by growing institutional alignment and renewed on-chain activity from long-dormant whales.

    Momentum around the asset has intensified in recent weeks, with fresh technical setups, corporate accumulation, and protocol-level proposals all converging to highlight Ethereum’s evolving position as not just a programmable blockchain but also a premier financial infrastructure layer.

    Dormant giants awaken

    Blockchain analysts have spotted multiple early Ethereum wallets springing to life, with some holding “genesis” coins untouched since 2015.

    In one case, a wallet that received 900 ETH when the asset traded below $0.50 moved its holdings after nearly a decade, triggering curiosity across the crypto space.

    On the same day, another wallet, also tied to Ethereum’s genesis phase, transferred 240 ETH after remaining inactive for exactly 3,630 days.

    While the holders are not technically whales by Ethereum’s classification, such movements often reflect either confidence shifts or strategic repositioning, particularly amid market optimism.

    The renewed activity echoes a broader pattern across the digital asset space, where legacy Bitcoin wallets have also been reactivating, in some cases after more than 14 years of dormancy.

    These sudden moves by early adopters signal that legacy stakeholders are once again paying close attention to Ethereum’s trajectory, especially as it gains ground on Bitcoin in structural and financial terms.

    Institutions turn to Ethereum

    Leading this shift is Bit Digital Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company that has effectively gone all-in on Ethereum, making headlines with its aggressive treasury transformation.

    According to a publication by the company, it sold 280 BTC and raised $172 million through a public equity offering to accumulate 100,603 ETH, positioning itself as one of the largest corporate Ethereum holders globally.

    This dramatic pivot comes alongside the winding down of Bit Digital’s Bitcoin mining operations and the rollout of its Ethereum staking infrastructure, which is already among the most advanced in the institutional market.

    CEO Sam Tabar has made it clear that the firm sees Ethereum not just as an asset, but as a foundation for financial reinvention, citing its programmability, staking yield, and growing adoption as core drivers of the shift.

    Beyond Bit Digital, other firms like Sharplink Gaming and BitMine are also joining the fray, with BitMine announcing a $250 million ETH acquisition initiative to deepen its exposure.

    According to CF Benchmarks, this trend is only expected to accelerate, with institutional ETH and SOL holdings potentially increasing tenfold over the next year.

    Ethereum network stability in focus

    Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, has proposed a new gas cap mechanism to help manage network stress during periods of high demand or spam attacks.

    The proposed cap would introduce a ceiling on total gas used per block, aiming to protect network performance by prioritising essential transactions over low-priority activity.

    If implemented, this strategy could offer greater consistency during congestion while reducing the impact of fee spikes on smaller or new users.

    Such upgrades reflect Ethereum’s maturing ecosystem, especially as developers prepare the protocol for future scaling and broader institutional use.

    Ethereum price outlook: technical analysis signals a bullish momentum

    At press time, Ethereum is trading at around $2,563, up more than 72% over the past three months, with a market capitalisation exceeding $309 billion.

    While ETH remains 47% below its all-time high of $4,878, recent developments, including ETF filings, whale reactivations, and corporate realignment, suggest that investor confidence is building once again.

    On the technical front, ETH/BTC is showing signs of a major breakout, forming what analysts identify as a bullish flag pattern on the three-day chart.

    Should Ethereum break out from its current range, the ETH/BTC pair could climb by as much as 35%, reaching the 0.031 BTC level by August, a potential signal of altseason.

    This comes as the total altcoin market cap tests long-term support, with previous bounces from this trendline often preceding explosive rallies across non-Bitcoin assets.

    The return of capital rotation toward Ethereum and other Layer 1 platforms underscores a clear shift in trader sentiment, especially as confidence grows around Ethereum’s upcoming technical upgrades.

    If the current bullish momentum holds, this may well mark the beginning of Ethereum’s most important ascent yet.



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  • Bitcoin wallets dormant for 15 years suddenly move BTC

    Bitcoin wallets dormant for 15 years suddenly move BTC

    • Satoshi era bitcoin wallets dormant since 2009, have just moved 250 BTC to new wallet addresses.
    • The five wallets transfered BTC in batches of 50 coins each.
    • Bitcoin price traded around $63,500, having touched highs above $64,000 across major exchanges.

    Several Bitcoin (BTC) miner wallets that have been dormant for over 15 years suddenly woke up and have moved 250 BTC worth over $15 million.

    The so-called ‘Satoshi era’ wallets are miner addresses created in the years that Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto actively mined BTC. Such wallets date back to 2009 – five of which just transferred 50 bitcoin each to new addresses.

    On-chain transactions tracker Whale Alert highlighted each of the five 50 BTC wallet movements early Sept. 20. In total, five wallets had transferred coins worth $15.9 million to new wallets.

    Lookonchain shared a screenshot of Whale Alert’s posts about the dormant coins. In this case, each of the miner addresses received bitcoin as mining rewards in 2009. Not one of these wallets transacted since that first transaction.

    Notably, none of the new wallets had moved the coins to a crypto exchange as of writing.

    In March 2024, a Bitcoin wallet dormant for over 12 years, suddenly woke up to move 500 BTC. Another wallet dormant for over 10 years, suddenly activated in April 2023.

    Bitcoin price

    The movement by these ‘Satoshi era’ BTC wallets come as Bitcoin price recovered to above $64,000 amid market reaction to this week’s Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The benchmarket cryptocurrency has over the past few months struggled to break higher – with a major dip to below $50k seen on August 5, 2024.

    Commenting on price outlook, crypto analyst Ali Martinez says its likely traders may want to take profits at current prices.

    BTC price tounched highs of $64,140 on Coinbase early Friday, September 20, 2024. However, it changed hands around $63,513 at the time of writing.



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  • Bitcoin wallet dormant for 10 years suddenly wakes up

    Bitcoin wallet dormant for 10 years suddenly wakes up

    • A dormant wallet from 2012 has woken up and moved 279 BTC.
    • According to on-chain data, the Satoshi era wallet holds 1,128 Bitcoin worth $31.6 million.
    • The wallet last transacted when Bitcoin prices ranged in the $12 to $95 zone. 

    While Bitcoin price continues to flirt with $28,000 after this week’s slump from $30,000, a new development related to the leading cryptocurrency has been observed.

    Dormant wallet wakes up and moves 279 BTC

    According to on-chain details shared by crypto account Whale Alert, a BTC wallet that has been dormant for over 10 years just reawakened.  The Satoshi era wallet reportedly holds 1,128 bitcoin worth approximately $31.6 million.

    And the dormant wallet has made some quick moves, with 279 BTC of the assets being moved to three new addresses in the past 24 hours. On-chain smart money platform Lookonchain tweeted:

    “A whale with 1,128 $BTC ($31.6M) that has been dormant for 10 years transferred 279 $BTC ($7.8M) to 3 new addresses just now. The whale received 1,128 $BTC in October 2012 and May 2013, when prices were $12 and $195.”

    Bitcoin price reached highs of $69,000 in November 2021, meaning the wallet would have been even richer had it activated then. While the sudden activity and why it happened remains to be unearthed, crypto twitter is reacting to the news with speculation that it is possible someone just found their seed phrase.



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