Arkham: Satoshi-Era Whale Moves $8B in Bitcoin for Security Upgrade, Not Selling
A massive $8 billion bitcoin transfer by a long-dormant Satoshi-era whale appears driven by security improvements rather than plans to cash out, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham.
Last week, eight wallets—each holding 10,000 BTC since 2011—moved their holdings to new bc1q-style addresses. These updated addresses, part of Bitcoin’s native SegWit upgrade, offer enhanced security, lower transaction costs, and improved efficiency compared to older addresses starting with “1.”
Arkham, which tracked the transactions, found no indication that the whale intends to sell. The bitcoin remains untouched in the new wallets, suggesting the move was proactive and part of broader operational security measures, rather than a response to market conditions.
Meanwhile, Charles Guillemet, CTO of Ledger, noted on X that the whale’s original wallets recently received OP_RETURN messages containing legal claims to the funds unless the owner responded by a set deadline.
Although some feared the messages signaled a hacking attempt, Guillemet clarified that the sender never proved they controlled any private keys and targeted many dormant wallets—not just these eight.
“It could simply be coincidence,” Guillemet shared on X. “The owner of the 80,000 BTC may have seen the OP_RETURN messages and decided to move the funds as a precaution.”
He added that although private keys have sometimes been compromised in the past due to weak cryptographic practices, such as predictable nonces or poor random number generation, there’s no evidence those issues apply here.
OP_RETURN is a Bitcoin feature that allows users to attach small bits of data or messages to transactions without impacting the transfer of funds.
