As it turns out, today was a triple awakening of Bitcoin whales. Thanks to Whale Alert data, dormant addresses containing 130 BTC ($8.42 million), 25 BTC ($1.62 million), and 184 BTC ($11.92 million) came to life today after more than 10 years of inactivity.
The oldest is “1NidF,” which was first activated on December 18, 2012. They bought 99 BTC, then another 85 two weeks later. The price at the time was $12,000. This whale is now up 99,354.5%, or $11.91 million.
💤 💤 Inactive address containing 184 #BTC ($11,922,550) has been activated after 11.6 years! https://t.co/po6LvvLm55
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) July 16, 2024
The conventional wisdom is that such re-emergence is bearish, with many market participants believing that old holders are waking up to take profits, especially when they reach thousands of percentage points.
However, the awakening may also be due to the desire of older Bitcoin users to change their storage method or wallet type.
Speaking of profit taking, it’s worth noting that the price of BTC hit $66,000 today. This came after falling to the mid-$50,000s less than a week ago. The mood was dire, and as is often the case in crypto markets, FUD marked the bottom and preceded the pump.
Bitcoin’s price is still far from its all-time high of $74,000. But if the cryptocurrency continues on its current trajectory, that peak won’t look out of reach.