Popular blockchain tracker Whale Alert has revealed that over the last 24 hours, a dormant cryptocurrency whale reactivated his Bitcoin wallet. The profit he has made on BTC by now are astounding.
The last time when he “touched” his crypto was 2012 — the still early years of Bitcoin and only two years after the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto opted to go under the radar.
Ancient BTC wallet comes back to life
The aforementioned source of data spreads the word that a wallet that contains 37 BTC has been reactivated after it had stayed dormant for 11.8 years — since 2012.
While back at the start that Bitcoin was worth only $476, now, in July 2024, this crypto is valued at $2,498,054. This constituted crazy 524,701% profit growth.
💤 A dormant address containing 37 #BTC (2,498,054 USD) has just been activated after 11.8 years (worth 476 USD in 2012)!https://t.co/YJX8o170hb— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) July 26, 2024
Earlier this week, Whale Alert published data on several other dormant wallets that had been unearthed containing millions worth of Bitcoin each.
Dormant Bitcoin wallets coming back en masse
In many cases, these sudden awakenings happen because the owners only now are able to locate their private keys. Many users have lost their early mined or bought Bitcoin forever, some very loud cases have been covered by the media.
However, other category of users have just been patiently waiting, watching as the world’s flagship cryptocurrency has been gradually rising in price over the past 10 to 12 years and then decided to call it a day and lock in their huge profits.
This year, Bitcoin reached a new price all-time high when it hit $73,750 on March 14. That historic price surge was largely caused by two main factors. The first one was the enormous Bitcoin buying spree started by spot BTC ETFs in January, when those 11 ETFs bought roughly 10,000 BTC per week.
The second one was the anticipation of the fourth Bitcoin halving by the global community. The event took place on April 20 and it slashed Bitcoin block rewards earned by miners from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC.