The most dormant Bitcoin on the network, coins untouched for a decade or more, are moving at an unusual pace this year, according to new data from Galaxy Research.
A chart published by the firm last week tracks how much Bitcoin from each vintage has "woken up" in each calendar year since 2012, broken down by age cohort. The standout is the thin band at the bottom of the 2026 bar: a visible strip of coins 10 years or older on the move, shown in red.
Since 2026 is only halfway through, Galaxy marked the bar with hatching to flag that it is not directly comparable to the completed years beside it, but the oldest cohort already stands out more than in most previous years, when movement of decades-old coins was barely noticeable.
The trend has accelerated in recent weeks. According to Galaxy's count, six wallets dormant since 2011, 2012 and 2014 moved a combined 553.59 BTC between 16 and 26 August, worth roughly $40.15 million.
One address moved 212 BTC, about $13.66 million, untouched since August 2012 — a 14-year span, representing a gain of roughly 557,640% on a cost basis near $12. Another moved 10.74 BTC, about $692,000, dormant since June 2011. The most profitable of the batch, 40 BTC last held in May 2012, arrived at the German custody bank Boerse Stuttgart Digital with a striking gain of 1,535,911%.
Movements this old draw scrutiny because few holders from Bitcoin's early days still control their keys, making each reawakening a potential signal of long-dormant supply returning to circulation. Whether coins are being sold, moved to new custody or consolidated is rarely clear from the chain alone, and in most recent cases the funds flowed to professional infrastructure rather than into the open market.
Two forces may help explain the stir. Several of the reactivated wallets carry the label "Salomon Client Dusted", linked to the Noah Doe case, a lawsuit in New York seeking to have roughly 39,069 dormant addresses declared abandoned property; the named wallets have been moving regularly since a judge paused the case in June.
Separately, about 233,000 BTC left long-term wallets during the Coldcard hardware wallet exploit, as spooked holders shifted funds to more secure setups.
The reawakenings come during a turbulent stretch for the market. Bitcoin fell to $76,877 on Friday, giving back much of a double-digit weekly gain after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh used his first Jackson Hole speech to warn that inflation is not cooling fast enough and that the central bank still has "work to do".
Traders read the remarks as hawkish, and the odds of a September rate hike jumped to about 56%, up from 35% the day before, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.
Even so, the longer-term picture remains favourable. US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $2.8 billion over eight straight days through Wednesday, their longest inflow streak since April, and traders on the prediction market Myriad continue to favour a run to $84,000 over a drop to $55,000.
* Translated and edited with permission from Decrypt.
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