Six Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Transfer 553 BTC Worth $40 Million

Six Bitcoin wallets that had not sent any transactions for 12 to 15 years moved a combined 553.59 BTC, valued at roughly $40.15 million at the time of transfer. The activity occurred over a ten‑day period in August and included addresses dating back to 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Timeline of the movements

• Aug 16 – A wallet inactive since June 13 2011 sent 8.54 BTC (≈$538 k).
• Aug 18 – A 2012 wallet transferred 212 BTC (≈$13.66 M); another 2011 wallet moved 10.74 BTC (≈$692 k).
• Aug 22 – Two large transfers: 150 BTC (≈$11.75 M) from a 2014 address and a cluster of three 2011 addresses that together sent 132.31 BTC (≈$10.37 M).
• Aug 26 – A 2012 wallet sent 40 BTC (≈$1.5 M) to an address labeled Boerse Stuttgart Digital.

Notable characteristics

• Five of the six destinations have no known exchange or custodial labels, providing no on‑chain evidence of a sale.
• One transfer (40 BTC) went to a German crypto‑custody provider, marking the only transaction with a publicly identified counterparty.
• Two of the wallets are linked to a New York Supreme Court lawsuit (the “Noah Doe” case) that seeks control of thousands of dormant Bitcoin addresses.

Potential reasons for the activity

• Legal pressure from the New York case may have prompted owners to move funds to avoid removal from the lawsuit.
• Security concerns, such as a recent Coldcard firmware flaw that exposed seed phrases, have led some long‑term holders to relocate coins, though no on‑chain link ties the six wallets to that issue.

Historical performance

Galaxy Research estimated original acquisition costs between $5 and $14 per BTC for the six wallets. Depending on the address, unrealized gains ranged from roughly 23,700 % to over 1.5 million % at the time of transfer.

Context

Large movements from old Bitcoin addresses have been frequent in 2026, including a separate August 20 event where 28 dormant wallets transferred 1,314.41 BTC (≈$94 M) and a July transfer of 5,908 BTC (≈$383 M) after eight years of inactivity.