Two Bitcoin addresses that had remained dormant for more than 16 years moved a combined 100 BTC on Friday morning, valued at approximately $6.89 million, according to onchain data. The first address sent nearly 50 BTC to one address and 0.01 BTC to another at 4:08 a.m. UTC. Just over two minutes later, the second address transferred nearly 49 BTC to one address and 1 BTC to another.
Both sets of coins originated from 50 BTC block rewards mined in September 2010, data from blockchain explorer Mempool shows. Onchain monitoring platform Whale Alert first reported the movements, estimating that each 50 BTC reward was worth about $3 when originally received. With Bitcoin trading around $69,000 at the time, the transferred coins have appreciated more than 1.15 million times since 2010.
By 4:48 a.m. UTC, roughly 20 BTC from the first transfer and 39 BTC from the second had been consolidated at a new address starting with bc1qj5. Additionally, about 30 BTC sat at another new address starting with bc1qqs, 10 BTC at bc1qds, and 1 BTC at bc1qce. Mempool labels both original 50 BTC inputs as pay-to-public-key, or P2PK, while the new receiving addresses use the native SegWit P2WPKH format with the bc1q prefix.
The identity of the wallets' owners, whether the two original outputs belonged to the same entity, and the reason for the transfers remain unknown. The activity follows other notable reactivations of early bitcoin holdings: in July 2025, five 50 BTC block rewards mined in April 2010 moved after about 15 years and were worth roughly $29.6 million. In March 2024, a transaction combined 40 mining rewards from 2010, totaling 2,000 BTC worth nearly $140 million.
