Six long-dormant Bitcoin wallets have transferred 553.59 BTC worth $40.15 million after remaining inactive for periods ranging from nearly 12 years to more than 15 years.
Summary
- Six wallets moved 553.59 BTC between Aug. 16 and Aug. 26.
- The holdings were worth $40.15 million when the transactions occurred.
- Two addresses carry labels linking them to a New York dormant-wallet lawsuit.
- Only one transfer reached a destination associated with a known crypto company.
Galaxy Research tracked the six movements from wallets dating to 2011, 2012, and 2014, although blockchain records do not reveal who controlled most of the addresses or why the owners transferred their holdings.
Five transfers went to addresses without known exchange links, offering no on-chain evidence that the Bitcoin was sold. The final transaction sent 40 BTC to an address labeled Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a German provider of crypto custody and trading infrastructure.
Bitcoin wallets move 553 BTC over 10 days
Beginning on Aug. 16, the first wallet transferred 8.54 BTC in block 962,770 after remaining inactive since June 13, 2011. Galaxy valued the holdings at about $538,000 when they moved, compared with an estimated acquisition price of around $14 per coin.
Using the difference between the historical and transfer prices, the holdings had gained about 461,981%. The figure represents an unrealized return unless the owner sold the coins, which the blockchain transaction does not establish.
Two days later, a wallet last active on Aug. 10, 2012, transferred 212 BTC worth approximately $13.66 million. The address carried the label “Noah Doe #1396 · Salomon Client Dusted,” connecting it to a New York lawsuit involving thousands of dormant Bitcoin addresses.
At an estimated historical price of $12 per BTC, the 212 BTC position had risen by roughly 557,640% when it moved. No public label identified the receiving address as an exchange or trading platform.
Hours after the 212 BTC transaction, another early holder moved 10.74 BTC. The coins had remained in place since June 17, 2011, and were worth about $692,000 at the time of the transfer. Neither side of the transaction had a public identity label.
Dormant-wallet activity resumed on Aug. 22, when two large transfers occurred within about two hours. One address moved 150 BTC worth $11.75 million after sitting inactive since Dec. 26, 2014.
Galaxy labeled the wallet “Noah Doe #1680,” making it the second address in the group connected to the New York case. Based on Bitcoin’s price when the address became inactive, the holdings had appreciated by an estimated 23,701%.
Three 2011 addresses move $10.37 million
Later on Aug. 22, a cluster of three addresses dating to 2011 transferred a combined 132.31 BTC in block 963,519. Galaxy valued the transaction at approximately $10.37 million.
The address beginning “1EG5DvjR” moved Bitcoin valued at $4.45 million, representing a potential gain of about 629,068%. A second address, beginning “1928FWqd,” transferred roughly $404,000 of BTC after its estimated value rose by 625,826%.
A third address, beginning “1EBzWeno,” accounted for $5.51 million of the total. Galaxy calculated that the holdings had appreciated by approximately 807,639%, based on an estimated original Bitcoin price of about $10.
On Aug. 26, the sixth wallet sent 40 BTC in block 964,127 after remaining inactive since May 28, 2012. The transaction occurred at 10:54 UTC and directed the holdings to an address labeled Boerse Stuttgart Digital.
Although the sender remains unidentified, the destination makes the movement different from the other five transfers, which went to addresses without public entity labels. The transfer to a custody provider does not by itself show whether the owner planned to sell, change custodians, or reorganize the holdings.
Galaxy estimated a cost basis near $5 per Bitcoin for the 40 BTC position. At the transfer price, its value had increased by approximately 1,535,911%, the largest percentage gain among the six wallets.
Large movements from old Bitcoin addresses have occurred repeatedly in 2026. On Aug. 20, 28 dormant wallets transferred 1,314.41 BTC worth $94.03 million, including 1,214.42 BTC from addresses created in 2014.
Earlier in July, a separate wallet transferred 5,908 BTC worth about $383 million after more than eight years without activity. The coins went to a new address rather than a publicly labeled exchange wallet.
New York case challenges dormant Bitcoin ownership
Two of the latest six wallets appear in a New York Supreme Court case brought by a pseudonymous plaintiff identified as Noah Doe and two Wyoming entities.
The lawsuit seeks control of 39,069 dormant addresses under Article 7-B of New York’s Personal Property Law, which covers lost property. The targeted addresses reportedly held about 3.7 million BTC when the complaint was filed, including wallets associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hacker.
According to filings covered by crypto.news, New York Supreme Court Justice Kathy J. King paused the proceedings in June and blocked the plaintiffs from seeking a default judgment before a scheduled July hearing.
The plaintiffs had sent small “dust” transactions to thousands of addresses with messages intended to notify their controllers about the claim. Galaxy uses the term “Salomon-dusted” for addresses that received the notices, explaining the labels attached to two wallets in the latest group.
Activity from named wallets has affected the case because the complaint said that addresses that moved funds would be removed. In July, the plaintiffs dropped 44 wallets after they became active following the filing.
Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn said the removed addresses held 21,443 BTC when the lawsuit began. They later moved 46,334 BTC and held about 3,097 BTC when he reported the change.
“Every single one had moved coins onchain since the case was filed,” Thorn said on July 8.
M&A attorney Ian R. Cohen and the Digital Chamber have opposed the plaintiffs’ legal position. Their filings argue that a self-custodied Bitcoin address does not become abandoned solely because it has recorded no outgoing transactions for an extended period.
Security concerns may explain some old-wallet activity
Separate concerns about hardware-wallet security have also prompted long-term holders to move Bitcoin, though no public evidence directly connects four of the latest six wallets to a compromised device.
A firmware flaw affecting certain Coldcard devices led attackers to reconstruct weak seed phrases and drain Bitcoin beginning in late July. Galaxy estimated in early August that four attack waves had removed about 1,816 BTC from 5,294 addresses.
Coinkite, Coldcard’s manufacturer, traced the problem to a firmware change introduced in March 2021. The error weakened the randomness used to create seeds on some devices, making affected private keys easier to calculate than intended.
Wallets established in 2011, 2012, or 2014 predate the flawed Coldcard firmware, but their owners could have imported older keys into affected devices at a later date. No on-chain data cited by Galaxy confirms that such a migration occurred.
For US holders, merely moving Bitcoin between addresses under the same person’s control does not create a taxable disposal. The Internal Revenue Service states that a transfer between wallets, accounts, or addresses belonging to the same taxpayer is not a taxable event, although network fees paid with cryptocurrency may involve separate recordkeeping considerations.
