A long-dormant Bitcoin whale has resurfaced, moving funds untouched since 2012.

On Sept. 11, blockchain tracker Lookonchain revealed that three connected addresses shifted 137 BTC, worth about $15.6 million, out of a cache of 955 BTC (equivalent to $108 million).

According to the firm, a small portion of the funds, 5 BTC, was sent to Kraken, suggesting an intent to sell.

Notably, the addresses were last active when Bitcoin traded at just $12 per coin, leaving their combined balance valued at around $10,000 at that time.

However, with BTC price near $113,000 as of press time, that same stash is currently worth more than $108 million, according to CryptoSlate’s data. This represents a gain of over 10,000% in just over a decade.

Dormant Bitcoin wallets resurface

This movement fits into a recent trend of long-dormant Bitcoin wallets reawakening after several years of inactivity.

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For context, CryptoSlate reported that Galaxy Digital executed a $9 billion Bitcoin sale in July linked to a Satoshi-era holder. Another whale investor steadily rotated billions from Bitcoin into Ethereum in August, causing a brief market decline for the top crypto.

In addition, CryptoQuant analyst JA Maartunn pointed out that these transfers are not isolated cases, as more than 604,000 BTC aged three to five years have moved on-chain since March.

This surge in wallet activity marks one of the most significant behavioral shifts among long-term Bitcoin holders in recent memory. Investors in this cohort typically endure multiple market cycles without moving their coins, so their sudden transfers carry weight.

Against that backdrop, many analysts see the transfers as profit-taking, with holders choosing to lock in gains as Bitcoin breaks through the $110,000 mark to new highs.

However, others interpret the activity differently. They suggest it reflects portfolio rebalancing of rotating capital from Bitcoin into Ethereum and select altcoins as institutional demand for crypto rises.

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Ethereum has been consolidating around the $2,500 price level over the past few days, showing little momentum in either direction. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has struggled to sustain a breakout above the $2,600 resistance zone, despite the inflows into Ethereum Spot ETFs last week. 

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One event that has sparked interest, and possibly concern, among Ethereum holders is the reactivation of a dormant whale wallet holding millions worth of ETH. The sudden awakening of this long-inactive address raises questions about a potential selling pressure and its market impact.

First Transaction From Dormant ETH Address Since 2015

On-chain tracker Whale Alerts was the first to report the reawakening of a pre-mined Ethereum address that had been inactive for nearly a decade. According to the large on-chain transaction tracker, the wallet, which held 2,000 ETH, initiated its last transaction 9.9 years ago. When the wallet last moved any funds in 2015, the entire stash was worth just $620. Today, that same amount is valued at over $5 million, making the owner’s profit roughly 820x based on current prices. At Ethereum’s all-time high price of $4,878 in 2021, the cryptocurrencies reached an unrealized gain of 1573x.

A dormant pre-mine address containing 2,000 #ETH (5,063,918 USD) has just been activated after 9.9 years (worth 620 USD in 2015)!https://t.co/G0i8Rif0XX

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) June 14, 2025

The alert by Whale Alerts, which noted the first transaction after 9.9 years, involved the transfer of 0.0001 ETH from the whale address “0xcF26” to address “0x2C12,” which is a newly created ETH address. However, Etherscan’s on-chain transaction data reveals that the whale address sent 500 ETH into the newly created address shortly afterward. 

Following the string of transaction data from Etherscan shows that these 500 ETH eventually made their way into  address “0x28C6,” which is known to be owned and controlled by crypto exchange Binance. This means that the 500 ETH may have already been sold through the exchange or are currently being prepared for liquidation.

Brace For Impact: Will The Remaining 1,500 ETH Be Sold?

As of now, the original whale address still holds approximately 1,500 ETH, currently valued at $3.796 million. However, it opens up the question of whether the rest of the funds will also be sold. Although we cannot be sure of a planned full liquidation, the pattern of the 500 ETH transfer and the involvement of an exchange address indicate that the possibility cannot be dismissed.

Right now, Ethereum is in a fragile price action around the $2,500 price level. If more ETH is offloaded by the whale, the added selling pressure could make it even harder for Ethereum to break out of its current consolidation phase, especially if there isn’t enough buying pressure to absorb the ETH sold off. 

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At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,525. The past 24 hours were spent by Ethereum trading between $2,549 and $2,495.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

A rival of top altcoin Ethereum (ETH) is seeing a rise in price after abruptly gaining support from Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange platform by volume.

In a new announcement, Binance says it will be adding support for Berachain (BERA), an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-identical layer-1 blockchain that uses a proof-of-liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism.

“Binance is excited to announce that Berachain will be added to Binance Simple Earn, ‘Buy Crypto,’ Binance Convert, Binance Margin, Binance Auto-Invest, and Binance Futures.”

A PoL consensus mechanism rewards validators for providing liquidity to a blockchain’s ecosystem rather than a traditional proof-of-stake (PoS) system, which incentivizes staking tokens.

As stated on Berachain’s official webpage,

“Proof-of-Liquidity radically changes the way L1 economics are structured, prioritizing users and applications over validator rewards at baseline.

Network incentives go towards enriching ecosystem liquidity, contributing to efficient trading, price stability, securing the chain, and increasing the network/user growth. PoL strongly align the incentives of network participants (validators, protocols, users) and contributes to the overall long-term health of the chain.”

News of the addition sent BERA flying, as the digital asset went from a February 5th low of $7.85 to a peak of $14.83 a day later, a gain of 89%. BERA has since retraced and is trading for $9.22 at time of writing.

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