Six Bitcoin wallets that had been inactive for roughly a decade moved about $40 million in BTC this month, but the transfers appear isolated against a broader backdrop of declining dormant-coin activity.
Bitcoin addresses dating back to the cryptocurrency’s earliest years continue to occasionally become active after sitting untouched for many years.
Data from Galaxy Research shows that six wallets, last active between 2011 and 2014, collectively transferred 553.59 BTC worth approximately $40 million between Aug. 16 and Aug. 26. One of the wallets had not recorded a transaction for more than 15 years.
Such activity can quickly fuel speculation that early Bitcoin holders are returning to the market to sell their long-held coins.
However, broader blockchain data suggests that dormant Bitcoin movement has actually weakened. Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, said dormant BTC transfers during the second quarter fell to their lowest level since Q3 2022.
Galaxy classifies Bitcoin as dormant when it has remained at the same address for at least one year.
The latest slowdown follows unusually high levels of activity in 2024 and 2025. During those years, large amounts of older Bitcoin moved at levels previously seen mainly during the 2017 bull market, when early holders began transferring substantial portions of their accumulated holdings.
Galaxy described the period as a “great distribution” and estimates that dormant Bitcoin movement in 2026 could come in below half of last year’s total.
Old Wallet Transfers Do Not Equal Selling
The movement of Bitcoin between addresses does not necessarily mean the coins were sold.
Blockchain records can confirm that BTC has moved, but they generally do not reveal the owner’s purpose. The coins could have been sold, shifted between personal wallets, transferred to a custody provider or moved as part of a security-related restructuring.
Most of the wallets involved in this month’s activity showed no obvious connection to exchanges. Five transferred their Bitcoin to addresses without known exchange affiliations.
The sixth wallet moved 40 BTC to Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a German crypto custody and trading company.
Two of the six wallets are also linked to a New York legal dispute involving a pseudonymous plaintiff called Noah Doe. The case seeks control of Bitcoin held across 39,069 dormant addresses under the state’s lost-property laws.
The plaintiffs have sent small amounts of BTC to the targeted addresses along with legal notices recorded on the blockchain. Their argument is that the assets could potentially be considered abandoned if nobody steps forward to demonstrate ownership.
One of the addresses involved in the lawsuit transferred 35.55 BTC in June after remaining inactive since March 2011, according to previous CoinDesk reporting. The transaction was among the first visible movements from an address targeted by the legal action.
Coldcard Vulnerability Sparked Separate BTC Movement
The recent activity should also be viewed separately from a larger wave of Bitcoin transfers triggered by a security issue involving certain Coldcard hardware wallets.
After the vulnerability was disclosed in late July, about 210,000 BTC held in addresses identified by Glassnode as belonging to long-term holders moved within a single week.
The flaw made some poorly generated wallet keys easier for attackers to predict. Some holders responded by transferring their Bitcoin to new wallets or regulated custody services, even when their own holdings were not directly affected.
Quantum Concerns Remain in the Background
Very old Bitcoin addresses have also attracted attention because some have publicly exposed keys that could become vulnerable if quantum computers eventually reach sufficient power.
A powerful quantum computer could potentially undermine the mathematics behind current digital signatures. CoinDesk estimated in April that roughly 6.9 million BTC could potentially be exposed under such a scenario.
That possibility has led some observers to associate movements from ancient wallets with concerns about quantum security. Galaxy’s Thorn, however, has pushed back against that interpretation.
Thorn said in July that none of the large Bitcoin holders his firm works with had identified quantum computing as a reason for selling. He said some institutional investors had instead cited quantum risk as a factor discouraging them from buying Bitcoin.
For now, the movement of 553.59 BTC from six very old wallets stands out because of the age of the coins, not because it signals a broad liquidation trend. Galaxy’s data indicates that overall dormant Bitcoin activity remains subdued, with 2026 currently tracking well below the elevated levels recorded in the previous two years.
