A long-dormant Bitcoin (BTC) address has been reactivated after more than 11 years of inactivity. The wallet, which holds 100 BTC, was brought back to life on August 29, according to blockchain tracking service Whale Alert.
Worth a mere $14,202 when the address was last used in 2013, the crypto stash has jumped by more than 41,000%, and now stands at approximately $6.02 million going by the largest cryptocurrency’s current price.
Crypto Community Reacts
There were some interesting reactions from the crypto community following the revelation, with some simply in awe of the owner’s patience.
“Imagine holding 100 BTC for over a decade and seeing it go from $14k to nearly $6 million. That’s the true definition of diamond hands,” one X user commented.
Another speculated, “Is he devastated because it had reached $73k?” This was in reference to the fact Bitcoin hit an all-time high price of $73,798 earlier in the year. That price would have given the nest egg a value of more than $7.3 million had the owner unlocked it then.
A History of Reactivations
Interestingly, it is not the first time in recent weeks that a mystery owner has brought back to life a dormant Bitcoin address. On August 7, another wallet stirred to life, transferring 250 BTC worth nearly $14 million.
That address was linked to an unnamed miner, with the original value of the stash thought to have been around $250, since it was last active in May 2010.
On August 17, another one containing 18 BTC was reactivated after gathering cobwebs for 10.3 years. At the time of restoration, the funds in that particular address would have gone for about $1.091 million, a significant jump from its $9,204 position in 2014.
A report by blockchain data platform Chainalysis from March 2024 estimated that there are more than 1.7 million BTC addresses that have remained inactive for more than ten years. That period from when they were last active is popularly known as the Satoshi era, in honor of the mysterious creator of Bitcoin.
Addresses from that time are often associated with early miners of the cryptocurrency, or those that bought the coin when it was dirt cheap. Usually, their owners come back to great profits, with the price of the cryptocurrency having gone up hugely in the intervening period.