Four Dormant Bitcoin Hoards Worth $161M Stir in Two Weeks
Wallets idle since 2011–2016 moved nearly 2,000 BTC, with the largest sitting untouched for over a decade.
Illustration · generated, not a photograph
Four long-idle Bitcoin wallets have transferred a combined 1,971.03 BTC, worth about $161 million, between Sept. 6 and Sept. 22, according to blockchain monitoring from Galaxy Research.
The largest move came from a wallet that had held 1,260.78 BTC since July 2016 — more than 10 years of dormancy. At current prices, that stash is worth roughly $100.63 million. Galaxy Research notes the coins were likely acquired at an average cost near $652, implying a potential gain of around 12,122%.
Even older coins posted more dramatic percentage returns. A wallet dormant since March 2011 shifted 10.25 BTC, now valued at about $792,000. Those coins likely cost around $1 each, representing a gain exceeding 8.38 million percent. Another 100 BTC, untouched since November 2011 and now worth approximately $8.09 million, would have appreciated about 2.49 million percent from their original cost.
The most recent transaction occurred early Tuesday, when a wallet holding 600 BTC — worth about $51.9 million — moved funds that had been idle since July 2012. That 14.2-year dormancy could have produced a return of more than 1 million percent.
Three of the four wallets carried a "Noah Doe" sender tag, referencing a New York lawsuit that seeks to declare thousands of dormant Bitcoin addresses abandoned property. Addresses linked to that case have been activating at a steady clip since a judge paused the proceedings in June.
This wave continues a pattern seen throughout 2026. Earlier in the year, six wallets transferred roughly $40 million in a single 10-day span. Galaxy Research's data shows Bitcoin's oldest cohort — coins untouched for a decade or more — is moving at a pace rarely observed in the network's history, Decrypt reported.
Analysts pay close attention to these awakenings because very few early Bitcoin holders still control their private keys. Each activation raises the possibility that long-lost supply is re-entering circulation.
A transfer alone does not indicate whether the owner is selling, consolidating holdings, or moving assets to new custody. The recipient of the latest 600 BTC transaction was not identified on-chain.
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