Bitcoin Whale Moves $44 Million After a Decade—Here's How Much It Gained

A mysterious holder has moved Bitcoin (BTC) worth nearly $44 million after receiving the coins over 10 years ago and ultimately letting them gather dust in the meantime.

Blockchain data shows that the 687.33 BTC—today worth $43.7 million—were moved late Sunday after a decade of dormancy. The coins first arrived at the address in January 2014, when 1 BTC was worth less than $900, and hadn't moved since, the data shows.

The price of BTC now stands at $63,467, according to CoinGecko, meaning the lucky investor is sitting on gains of 7,228%.

Interestingly, blockchain data suggests that the as-yet-unidentified holder paid less than $2 as a transaction fee to move the coins on Sunday.

CryptoQuant, which monitors blockchain activity, told Decrypt that the coins came from block rewards from back in 2011, so it's highly likely the BTC belongs to an early miner.

Bitcoin miners are people—or organizations—which work to keep Bitcoin network running. Using computers and lots of energy, they mint new coins and process transactions and are rewarded in BTC for doing so.

In the crypto world, Bitcoin whales are investors who hoard huge amounts of the asset and don’t touch it for years.

But today's movements weren't made by a whale. Investors are typically considered Bitcoin whales if they hold at least 1,000 BTC, or at least $63.5 million worth. Such 'HODLers' are typically large institutions or companies.

Regardless of what defines a whale, long-term holders have been shown to be the most successful investors as the price of BTC has only gone up steadily over the past decade—despite the volatility along the way.

Edited by Andrew Hayward