Bitcoin wallet dormant since 2011 moves 20.43 BTC after 15 years, Galaxy says

By Khal · · 2 min read

Editorial illustration: A dusty black leather wallet covered in cobwebs sits partly open on a dark surface, with one gold Bitcoin coin at its opening and another lying nearby.
AI-generated editorial illustration · AI-generated editorial illustration · Published Sep 30, 2026, 7:53 a.m. (52 minutes ago)

In brief

  • Bitcoin wallet dormant since May 2011 moved 20.43 BTC on Sept. 29, per Galaxy Research.
  • Coins were worth roughly $1.7 million at the time of the transfers, U.Today reported.
  • Cost bases estimated by Galaxy were about $4 and $3 per coin across two batches.
  • Sender and recipient had no attribution from Galaxy Research.

Two batches, tiny cost basis

Galaxy Research split the 20.43 BTC into two groups of old outputs. The first batch, 10.33 BTC, carried an estimated average historical basis of roughly $4 per coin, per the analytics firm.

That's not a typo.

Galaxy calculated the gain on that batch at approximately $872,000 (or 2,192,671%). The other 10.10 BTC had an estimated basis of only around $3 per coin, and the firm put the combined gain across both groups at about $1.724 million.

Part of a busy September

The Sept. 29 move wasn't an isolated one. On Sept. 5, 12 wallets holding 50 BTC apiece moved a combined 600 BTC after more than 16 years of inactivity, U.Today reported. Those coins came from mining rewards generated in March 2010 and were worth roughly $48 million at the time.

It didn't stop there. About 626.74 BTC from long-dormant wallets moved for the first time in years during the first five days of the month, including eight 2013-era wallets that each moved 25 BTC within roughly 25 seconds. Galaxy Research also tracked four wallets, each inactive for at least a decade, that moved a combined 1,971.03 BTC between Sept. 6 and Sept. 22.

An even older wallet holding 10.25 BTC (dormant since March 2011) also became active. On Sept. 19, another 2011 wallet moved 100 BTC worth approximately $8.09 million, and on Sept. 22 a wallet inactive since July 2012 moved 600 BTC worth about $51.9 million at the time, according to U.Today.

What's known and what isn't

Galaxy's figures cover when the coins moved and what they likely cost. They don't say who controls the wallet. Galaxy Research had no attribution for either the sender or the recipient, so there's no identified owner behind the Sept. 29 transfers.

The dollar values cited here are U.Today's approximations at the time of each transfer, not current prices.

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