Dormant Crypto Wallets Begin Moving Millions in Bitcoin

Bitcoin wallets that had lain dormant for more than ten years are now being activated and moving millions of dollars worth of the cryptocurrency. According to data from Galaxy Research, six such wallets moved around $40 million in Bitcoin between August 16 and August 26, with one of them inactive for 15 years. These kinds of moves often raise concerns that some of bitcoin's earliest holders are beginning to cash out.

However, the amount of dormant bitcoin moving on-chain has decreased to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2022, according to researcher Alex Thorn of Galaxy Digital. This decline follows two particularly busy years in 2024 and 2025, when older bitcoin moved at levels not seen since the 2017 bull market. Galaxy Digital dubbed this period a "great distribution" and predicts this year will see less than half as much dormant bitcoin moving as in 2025.

While movement on the blockchain indicates coins shifting from one address to another, it does not necessarily indicate selling. Of the six wallets in question, five sent their coins to addresses with no known exchange links, while the sixth moved 40 BTC to Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a German crypto custody and trading provider. Two of the wallets have labels connecting them to a New York lawsuit, where plaintiff "Noah Doe" is using the state's lost property laws to claim bitcoin held in 39,069 dormant addresses.

Earlier this year, one address mentioned in the case moved 35.55 BTC after sitting untouched since March 2011. In other crypto news, a recent PYMNTS Intelligence survey shows limited adoption of digital assets among middle market companies, primarily due to regulatory concerns.