SKN | Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Move $40 Million After a Decade, but Exchange Selling Remains Limited

Key Points:

• Six Bitcoin wallets dormant for between 10 and 15 years moved a combined 553.59 BTC, worth approximately $40 million, between August 16 and August 26.
• Five of the six wallets sent their Bitcoin to addresses with no known exchange links, reducing evidence that the movements represented immediate selling pressure.
• Galaxy Research data shows dormant Bitcoin activity has fallen to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2022, with 2026 on pace for less than half of last year’s total.

Some of Bitcoin’s oldest wallets are moving again, but the latest transactions may be less bearish than their headlines suggest. Six wallets last active between 2011 and 2014 transferred a combined 553.59 BTC, worth roughly $40 million, during a 10-day period in August, according to Galaxy Research.

Large movements from long-dormant wallets often trigger speculation that early Bitcoin holders are preparing to sell. Yet blockchain data cannot automatically determine whether coins are being liquidated, transferred into custody, reorganized for security purposes or simply moved to new wallets, making destination analysis increasingly important for institutional market participants.

Old Bitcoin Moves, but Most Coins Avoid Exchanges

The six wallets were last active when Bitcoin traded at dramatically lower prices than today, with one address remaining untouched for more than 15 years. Together, they moved approximately 553.59 BTC between August 16 and August 26.

However, the destination of those funds provides important context. Five of the six wallets transferred Bitcoin to addresses without known exchange connections. Only one wallet sent funds toward an identifiable trading or custody destination, transferring 40 BTC to Boerse Stuttgart Digital, a German crypto custody and trading provider.

This distinction matters because on-chain movement is not equivalent to selling. A transaction can reflect a change in wallet structure, a transfer to a custodian, estate planning, improved security practices or internal reorganization. For investors monitoring potential supply entering the market, exchange inflows generally provide a stronger signal than wallet movement alone.

Dormant Coin Activity Is Actually Slowing

Despite renewed attention around these decade-old wallets, Galaxy Digital’s broader data points to a decline in dormant Bitcoin activity. Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s head of firmwide research, said the amount of Bitcoin moving after remaining inactive fell during the second quarter to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2022.

Galaxy classifies Bitcoin as dormant when it has remained at the same address for at least one year. The current slowdown follows two unusually active years in 2024 and 2025, when large amounts of old Bitcoin moved at levels comparable to the 2017 bull market.

Galaxy previously described that earlier period as a “great distribution”, as long-term holders sitting on substantial gains moved or spent coins accumulated during Bitcoin’s early years. By comparison, 2026 is currently on pace to see less than half as much dormant Bitcoin move as in 2025.

For the broader market, that trend may be more significant than individual wallet awakenings. A lower volume of dormant supply entering circulation could indicate that long-term holders, as a group, are not accelerating distribution despite Bitcoin’s elevated valuation.

Security Concerns Are Also Changing Wallet Behavior

Not all long-term Bitcoin movements are driven by market expectations. Security concerns have increasingly encouraged holders to move older coins into new wallets or regulated custody.

After a flaw involving certain Coldcard hardware wallets was disclosed in late July, approximately 210,000 BTC left wallets classified by Glassnode as belonging to long-term holders in a single week. The vulnerability created concerns around poorly generated wallet keys, prompting some users to migrate funds even if their own holdings were not directly affected.

Longer-term concerns surrounding quantum computing have also become part of the discussion. Bitcoin wallets with exposed public keys could theoretically face risks if quantum computers eventually become powerful enough to compromise existing cryptographic protections.

CoinDesk previously reported that approximately 6.9 million BTC could potentially fall into this category under such a scenario. However, Thorn has pushed back against the idea that quantum concerns are currently driving widespread selling among major Bitcoin holders.

What the Wallet Activity Means for Bitcoin Markets

The movement of $40 million in decade-old Bitcoin is notable, particularly because some of the addresses date back to the cryptocurrency’s earliest years. Yet the broader evidence suggests limited immediate selling pressure, given that most of the transferred coins did not move directly toward known exchanges.

Going forward, investors will be watching exchange inflows, long-term holder distribution and security-driven wallet migrations rather than interpreting every dormant-wallet transaction as a signal of liquidation. The more important trend remains the broader slowdown in dormant Bitcoin activity, which suggests that old supply is moving less aggressively in 2026 than during the previous two years.