Another bitcoin whale awakes, transfers $7.8 million after a decade of dormancy

A bitcoin whale that has been inactive for a decade transferred 279 bitcoins — worth $7.8 million — to three fresh addresses today.

The wallet in question received 1,128 bitcoins in October 2012 and May 2013, on-chain analyst account Lookonchain tweeted. The price of bitcoin during those transfers was approximately $12 and $195 per coin, respectively.

This latest transfer comes a day after another long-dormant bitcoin whale transferred 2,071.5 BTC — worth $60.7 million — yesterday after nine years of inactivity.

While the reason for the move is unknown, there still exists speculation that some long-time crypto users are moving old funds to new wallets amid a significant (and mysterious) wallet-draining operation allegedly targeting old wallets.

The price of bitcoin is down more than 7% over the past week.

In other Bitcoin-related news, the deadline for Mt. Gox creditors to provide their repayment information passed earlier this month — opening the window for repayments that should be carried out by Oct. 31, 2023.

Mt. Gox is set to distribute an unknown portion of the 142,000 BTC ($3.9 billion), 143,000 BCH ($17.9 million) and 69 billion Japanese yen ($523 million) that it holds via payments made in bitcoin, bitcoin cash and fiat.

The bitcoin price is currently above $28,100 after declining by more than 2% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. 

Updated with additional information about an alleged wallet-draining operation and Mt. Gox repayments.