Dormant Bitcoin Wallet Moves $250M After 8 Years of Silence

• A dormant Bitcoin wallet active since 2016 suddenly moved over $250 million in BTC.
• The wallet’s movement sparked curiosity amid ETF outflows and shifting whale behavior.

A crypto wallet that had been dormant since 2016 suddenly became active and immediately sent more than $250 million in Bitcoin, according to Arkham. This is no ordinary wallet, because its contents were once worth “only” $3 million in early 2017. Now? Its value has exploded by more than 8,000%.

$250M BITCOIN WHALE WAKES UP AFTER 8 YEARS

A Bitcoin Whale that has held BTC since late 2016 has just moved over $250M in BTC last night.

His Bitcoin stack went from $3M in early 2017 to over $250M today – and he’s held Bitcoin on one address for over 8 years. pic.twitter.com/RF1aewYVgy

— Arkham (@arkham) March 22, 2025

A Sleeping Whale Wakes and Moves Quietly

This wallet was observed as not having any activity for more than eight years. Suddenly, in mid-March 2025, the entire BTC contents in it were transferred to two new addresses.

Interestingly, prior to the massive transfer, the owner took the opportunity to test the system by sending several small transactions. As if he was making sure that everything was still safe and that access to his wallet could still be used after a long sleep.

Furthermore, there was no sign of the Bitcoin entering the exchange. This means that this could just be a security measure. Of course, the crypto community still finds these massive whale movements nerve-wracking.

Big Players Shift Between ETFs and Spot Markets

On the other hand, the atmosphere in the Bitcoin market is indeed changing. On February 26, 2025, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju reported that Coinbase’s spot volume dominance has increased by more than 30% in a week.

However, the day before, the Bitcoin ETF recorded the largest outflow in a single day: $937.78 million. That amount is certainly not a small number, and could be a reflection of selling pressure from large institutions. Just imagine, like a gold shop where people are queuing to sell, while outside, other people are starting to save precious metals. Mixed up, right?

Whales Dump While Smaller Holders Accumulate Bitcoin

Meanwhile, CNF also reported that during mid-March, Bitcoin whales and sharks—large owners—had reduced their holdings by more than 57,000 BTC in a week. If converted to current values, that could be equivalent to billions of US dollars.

But what’s curious is that when they were selling, Bitcoin owners with balances above 10 BTC were actually increasing their positions. Around 5,000 BTC were collected by this group in a short period of time.

So, even though the eight-year-old wallet was just one of many addresses on the network, it appeared in the middle of a market that was actually in a push-pull phase. Some were dumping, some were collecting. Some were leaving ETFs, and some were busy on Coinbase.

Old Wallets Move, and the Market Holds Its Breath

The question is, why did the wallet owner suddenly wake up? It could be for security reasons, or it could be because he wanted to take advantage of liquidity. But so far no one has been able to confirm the exact purpose. What is clear is that every time an old wallet like this moves, the market is definitely on high alert.

This situation reminds us that in the crypto market, sometimes the main players are not the ones who appear most often. In fact, those who have been silent for years can surprise the market overnight.

Meanwhile, as of press time, BTC is trading at about $85,706.06, up 1.77% over the last 24 hours and 2.94% over the last 7 days.

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