Dormant Bitcoin Whale Awakens, Moves $100M As Selling Pressure Mounts

A dormant Bitcoin whale with an address that dates back to 2013 surprisingly awakened and sent millions to a U.S. cryptocurrency exchange.

The latest data from blockchain explorer OKlink shows that the dormant BTC whale moved 5,000 BTC or approximately $100 million of funds to the crypto exchange platform Kraken on Monday. The address' last transaction was made in May 2021.

Crypto analysts are always on the lookout for dormant Bitcoin whales' activities since their movements impact the market. Crypto research firm CryptoQuant speculated that the awakening of dormant whales could be a sign of increased selling pressure, indicated by long-term holders liquidating their assets.

But, most often, large players or crypto whales, usually sell their holdings via over-the-counter desks. This way, their activities would not push the price of the Bitcoin further down even if all of them decide to sell their BTC simultaneously. Some analysts think dormant whales are just moving their assets to different wallets.

It is worth noting, however, that this is not the first time a dormant Bitcoin whale has awakened from a long sleep. Market watcher and on-chain analyst who goes by the Twitter handle JA_Maartun noticed that this is the third time that a dormant whale made a 5,000 BTC transaction noting that "these addresses were dormant for 7y - 10y, which makes them old Bitcoins."

Late last month, the market analyst spotted a couple of Bitcoin whales, each making a 5,000 BTC transaction. On Aug. 28, Maartun reported a 5,000 $BTC "with an age between 7y ~ 10y" spent Bitcoin "in a single block."

This was followed by another 5,000 BTC transaction of another dormant BTC whale on Aug. 30. The whale address performed the same transaction and was the same age as the other dormant whale. The market analyst noted, at the time, that these movements are works of "truly experienced market participants who want to get out."

The analyst also noticed that these transactions in August did not end up on a cryptocurrency exchange since "Exchange Inflow CDD doesn't show any massive spike."

As of 6:37 a.m. ET Tuesday, BTC was trading up 1.03% at $19,980.58 with a 24-hour volume of $34,010,057,687, according to the latest data from CoinMarketCap.