Aging BTC Whales Reappear but What Does This Mean?

As the current market experienced a significant uptick, there has been a resurgence in “aging whales” that mirrors trends last seen during the bullish market in 2021.

A CryptoQuant analyst ‘Maartun’n recently observed a transaction on December 5th involving 1000 bitcoins that had remained inactive for over a decade.

Aging Whales Signal Similarities to 2021 Bull Run

A decade is an extensive timeframe, making the activation of wallets holding such old BTC a topic that invariably sparks community discussions.

Often, coins age due to loss, rendering them inactive forever. Some may be forgotten rather than lost and could resurface. In such cases, the finder, whether the original owner or not, may opt to sell immediately for profit or wait for the right market timing to unload the Bitcoin.

Interestingly, this is not an isolated event, as the crypto intelligence firm’s analyst identified more than 13 similar transactions in recent months. Notably, these transactions are occurring amid a bullish trend in Bitcoin, fueled by positive news surrounding the potential introduction of an ETF.

This pattern mirrors a trend seen during the 2021 bull market when Bitcoin’s price surged, and numerous transactions involved Bitcoins aged over 10 years. It appears that the current market is experiencing a comparable phase.

The analyst’s examination of the data also revealed two significant transactions indicative of panic selling, involving 2200 and 3741 BTC, respectively. These transactions occurred during a pronounced downturn in Bitcoin’s value, suggesting a correlation between older BTC movements and market sentiment during challenging periods.

In recent weeks, several Bitcoin wallet addresses have sprung back to life after years of inactivity. On November 30, a dormant whale moved its entire stash of 3,623 BTC – worth approximately $137 million – to two new wallets. Weeks before, three Bitcoin whale addresses transferred a total of 6,500 Bitcoins to new wallets, with a combined value of around $230 million.

Bitcoin Whales Adopting a ‘Risk-On Mode’

Besides a flurry of mysterious wallet movements from previously dormant addresses, whales, in general, have been on an accumulation spree since August.

Ki Young Ju, the co-founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, observed that Bitcoin whales had entered a “risk-on mode,” indicating a bullish market sentiment by transferring BTC to derivative exchanges. He revealed that whales actively initiated long positions, particularly when Bitcoin (BTC) was valued at $29,000.

The exec highlighted that numerous whales entered the market during a cyclical low for BTC, coinciding with the November 2022 collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. This is evident in the increased transfers of crypto to derivative trading platforms during that period.