 
 
When a large whale moves in the sea, it forms ripples across the water. Similarly, when a large Bitcoin (BTC) holder, colloquially referred to as a crypto whale, moves its coins on-chain, that creates buzz on social media, prompting spectators to wonder if it’s a prelude to a sale and downside price volatility.
A long-dormant Bitcoin whale awakened on Tuesday to move 1,000 BTC, worth roughly $116.6 million, for the first time after 12 years of dormancy. This movement was first noted by blockchain sleuth Lookonchain. The whale transferred all its 1,000 BTC stockpile to four new wallets.
The Bitcoin whale first received these coins in January 2014, when BTC was priced at around $847. This means that the stash was worth approximately $847,000 at the time. The identity of this whale or the new addresses that received the coins is still unknown.
The price of Bitcoin jumped to a four-week high above $117,000 on Wednesday, as traders anticipate short-term volatility price swings across global markets before and after the closely watched U.S. Federal policy decision on interest rate cuts. Nonetheless, the apex crypto is up 3.7% over the last seven days, implying a staggering return for the anonymous whale.
Many long-term holders have been waking up ever since BTC rocketed above the $100,000 milestone.
 
Back in July, Galaxy Digital announced that it had executed a $9 billion sale of over 80,000 Bitcoin for a Satoshi-era whale. The asset manager touted it as “one of the largest notional Bitcoin transactions in the history of crypto, and revealed that it was part of the OG investor’s estate planning strategy. At the time, the liquidation prompted some analysts to suggest that early Bitcoin whales were losing faith in the bellwether cryptocurrency.
And as ZyCrypto reported last week, a Bitcoin address holding 445 BTC transferred 132 BTC to a new wallet and moved 5 BTC to a Kraken-labelled wallet after a 13-year slumber.