A Bitcoin whale that accumulated coins shortly before the March 2020 COVID-19 crash and held them through the market collapse has transferred roughly $377.6 million worth of Bitcoin.
The wallet moved approximately 4,582 BTC to five separate addresses on Monday, according to blockchain data from Arkham and mempool.space, both of which track public Bitcoin transactions.
Four of the receiving addresses each obtained 1,000 BTC, while the fifth received around 582 BTC. None of the five wallets had transferred the coins onward at the time of writing.
The Bitcoin was originally deposited into wallet 18VmXvkF4cgLi35RtMiHHDpvMjUCyVpQ9x on March 3, 2020, arriving from the address 17VX1BEjYVyBMi2vw6nX3DrpwMvCSweHZot. The transfer came just nine days before COVID-19 fears triggered a severe market downturn, pushing Bitcoin down more than 40% to below $4,000. The cryptocurrency has not fallen back to that price since.
At the time of the original deposit, the holdings were worth approximately $40.8 million. Their value had risen to around $377.6 million by Monday’s transfer, an increase of roughly ninefold.
The wallet did not record an outgoing transaction for more than four years after receiving the coins. Its first recorded outflow came in August 2024, when 0.009 BTC was sent to bc1qmpjs55x326wvnvtwvkwfqqzzlyljk7ffmdw32g. The remaining funds were returned to the same wallet.
Large transfers from dormant Bitcoin wallets are closely watched by on-chain analysts for potential signs of changing market conditions. According to CryptoQuant data and analysis, sharp increases in metrics such as Coin Days Destroyed (CDD) and older Spent Output Age Bands can sometimes precede price corrections or periods of elevated volatility.
Such transfers can raise speculation that long-term holders are preparing to sell their assets. However, moving coins does not necessarily indicate an impending sale, as investors may transfer funds between wallets they control for security or other operational reasons. The motivation behind this latest transaction remains unknown.
Meanwhile, wallets linked to the U.S. government have recently transferred at least $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin. It is still unclear whether the movements signal plans to sell the holdings or simply represent internal transfers between government-controlled addresses.
