After ten years of inactivity, Bitcoin whale wallets transfer $61M worth of BTC

Two enigmatic Bitcoin wallets holding a combined 1,000 Bitcoin, valued at $61 million, have suddenly reemerged after a decade of inactivity, transferring nearly all of their satoshis.
On May 12 at 7:10 pm UTC, wallet address “16vRq…qjzEa” transferred its 500 Bitcoin at block 843,131, while the other 500 Bitcoin was sent by address “1DUJuH…NgfC5” two blocks later, as reported by Blockchain.com’s Bitcoin block explorer.
According to CoinGecko, the wallets received 500 Bitcoin each on September 12 and 13, 2013, when the price of Bitcoin was $134.
At current prices, the total transferred amount is now worth 456 times more than its original acquisition price at $61.2 million.
Since the transfers, one of the receiving addresses from “16vRq…qjzEa” has already forwarded the 500 Bitcoin to multiple wallets, while the recipient from “1DUJuH…NgfC5” is still holding onto its 500 Bitcoin.
The close timing of the incoming and outgoing transfers led blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain to link the two transactions together, leading observers to believe that the two wallets may have belonged to the same individual or entity.
Before the transfers, the two addresses were ranked as the 4,353rd-largest Bitcoin whales, according to BitInfoCharts.
Just a week ago, a Bitcoin wallet from the Satoshi Nakamoto era transferred 687 Bitcoin, worth $43.9 million, to two different addresses.
According to a recent analysis by Chainalysis and Fortune, nearly 1.8 million Bitcoin addresses have remained inactive for over a decade, excluding Nakamoto’s wallet. These wallets hold approximately $121 billion worth of Bitcoin, which accounts for 8.5% of the total 21 million Bitcoin that will ever exist.
While it is impossible to determine how much of this has been lost, there are speculations that dormant wallets may be reawakening to sell Bitcoin at the right moment. Others suggest that the funds may be transferred to a more secure noncustodial wallet service provider.
As of now, Bitcoin is priced at $61,450 and has seen a 130% increase over the past year, according to CoinGecko.