A Bitcoin wallet that has been dormant since 2014 suddenly woke up and moved over 174 bitcoins worth more than $102 million.

Blockchain data showed that the Bitcoin (BTC) wallet that received 174.88 BTC on Jan. 8, 2014, moved funds for the first time on Aug. 16, 2024.

The transfer comes after a decade, during which Bitcoin’s price soared to highs of $73,000 before retreating to current levels.

Transaction cost

While BTC’s initial value was nearly $142,000 in 2014, the staggering gains the flagship cryptocurrency has seen since mean that the 174.88 bitcoin is now worth more than $10.2 million.

Blockchain tracker Whale Alert spotted this dormant Bitcoin wallet movement on Aug. 16.

The transaction fee for the transfer was 67,500 satoshis, or $39.43, which is considerably low. However, per mempool details, this was still an overpayment of 50x that saw the $10.2 million transaction confirmed quickly.

In October 2018, the wallet’s holdings totaled about $896,000, and crossed the $5 million mark in late January 2021.

According to data on blockchain explorer Blockchair, the addresses’ balance currently stands at 0.00004226 BTC, worth $2.50 at the current Bitcoin price of $59,300.

Bitcoin wallets waking up

The last few months have seen a rising frequency of dormant Bitcoin addresses waking up to move millions of dollars worth of BTC. It’s notable that Satoshi-era addresses — those holding coins mined in the first few months of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto’s time — have not been common.

However, the past few months have seen multiple dormant wallets suddenly move, including one that woke up after a 12-year hibernation to transfer $6.9 million in BTC in July this year. Another wallet sent $3 million in BTC to Binance in June after being dormant for over 14 years.

Whale Alert also spotted this other dormant wallet movement.

Currently, about 18.3 million BTC are in dormant Bitcoin wallets. BitInfoCharts data shows a sharp rise since January 2024, when cumulatively, dormant BTC wallets held about 7.4 million coins.

In most cases, investors watch the movement of BTC in dormant wallets as potential sources of fresh supply pressure on prices. ‘Sell wall’ investors often see prices struggle, resulting in huge volatility.

Proton, a privacy-focused company behind solutions like the Proton Mail and Proton VPN, has launched a self-custody crypto wallet.

The Swiss-based firm announced that the new ‘Proton Wallet’ will initially support only Bitcoin (BTC). As a self-custody wallet, Proton Wallet gives users full control over private Bitcoin keys. The company said it will add support for other crypto assets in due course.

“While we may seek to add fiat currency capabilities in the future, this requires a Swiss banking license and is, therefore, not possible today,” Proton founder and CEO Andy Yen said regarding support for fiat currencies.

Send BTC like email

Yen said in a blog post introducing the new product that the Proton Wallet is designed to bring Bitcoin to anyone by removing the complexities that continue to keep access away from the masses.

As such, the wallet features the capacity for users to send Bitcoin via email.

Users will benefit from the company’s Proton Mail email infrastructure and encryption key management system to send and receive Bitcoin. The wallet will also support users who have emails with third-party providers such as Gmail and Outlook, with this possible if the user has a Proton Account.

As for accessibility, Proton says its wallet will allow users to buy BTC in over 150 countries. The company is partnering with on-ramp providers like Banxa to enable this feature. The company has over 100 million users across its suite of products and could see another wave of Bitcoin adoption hit the market.

Yen also talked about the wallet’s security features.

Key to Proton Wallet’s focus on security and privacy are two things:

First, the company claims a built-in two-factor authentication and an “optional wallet passphrase.” The latter is separate from a user’s login information and provides an extra layer of protection, the Proton CEO said.

The other is the AI-powered security program Proton Sentinel, which will offer further account protection. Proton has reportedly used this program to protect activists and journalists, among other users, against cyberattacks.