Sleeping Whale in Arkham Stirs After 8 Years, Moves $250m in Bitcoin

A cryptocurrency wallet that had been inactive for eight years has abruptly come back to life. As reported by Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics company, the whale has transferred over $250 million worth of Bitcoin.

The transactions took place within the last 16 hours, revealing that the value of the holdings has significantly increased from roughly $3 million in early 2017 to over $250 million today. Prior to yesterday's transfers, the wallet had stored its Bitcoin (BTC) in a single address for more than eight years.

$250M BITCOIN WHALE AWAKENS AFTER 8-YEAR SLUMBER

A Bitcoin whale who has possessed BTC since late 2016 has just moved over $250M in BTC last night.

The value of his Bitcoin holdings grew from $3M in early 2017 to over $250M today, and he has kept his Bitcoin in one address for over 8 years.

The transactions, which can be seen on Arkham's monitoring dashboard, display the funds being transferred between several wallets labeled as "250M BTC Whale" addresses.

More specifically, the transactions occurred in two groups approximately 14-16 hours ago, with each transfer involving around 3,000 BTC, valued at roughly $252 million per transfer.

According to the transaction history, the Bitcoin was bought around 2016 when BTC traded at about $1,000 or lower.

Before these recent movements, the last transactions from these wallets occurred around 8 years ago, as indicated by the timestamps in Arkham's data—the early transactions from 2016 show the accumulation of Bitcoin when the cryptocurrency was less valuable.

The reawakening of dormant wallets from Bitcoin's early days has become increasingly scarce. These occurrences provide a glimpse into the immense wealth creation experienced by early adopters who maintained their holdings through multiple market cycles.

While some long-term holders continue to keep their Bitcoin positions, industry experts are debating whether Bitcoin's traditional four-year market cycle will persist in the future. Tomas Greif, Chief of Product & Strategy at Braiins, recently questioned the sustainability of these cycles:

Is the 4-year bitcoin cycle dead?

Initially, halvings had a significant supply impact. But as most of BTC has been mined, their effect is diminishing. In a few halvings, they will have a negligible impact on supply.

"Is the 4-year bitcoin cycle dead? Early on, halvings had a major supply impact. But as the majority of BTC has been mined, their effect is shrinking. In a couple of halvings, they will have a negligible effect on supply," Greif observed.

He suggests that while historical patterns may continue as a "self-fulfilling prophecy," the fundamental impact of halvings on Bitcoin's supply disappears with each cycle. Greif emphasized that halvings will continue to affect Bitcoin mining economics regardless of market cycles.