Ten years of silence, Bitcoin suddenly active with $161 million transferred in two weeks

Four dormant bitcoin wallets have transferred a total of 1,971.03 BTC, or about $161 million over the past two weeks. According to data from Galaxy Research's on-chain monitoring, one of the largest transfers involves 1,260.78 BTC (about $1006.3 million), which has not been moved since 2016.

The returns on these early holdings were astonishing, exceeding the 8.38 million-fold increase in a wallet account that was launched in 2011; and one recently awakened with 600 BTC (about $51.9 million), which has been dormant since 2012, completed its transfer early Tuesday morning.

Three of the four wallets were labeled "Noah Doe" in connection with a homelessness lawsuit in New York City. This also continues a trend of more than ten old wallets being activated consecutively since 2026.

On-chain monitoring: 1971 BTC transferred in two weeks

The pace of Bitcoin's long dormant wallet connection awakening does not appear to be slowing down. According to blockchain monitoring by Galaxy Research, between September 6 and September 22, a total of 1,971.03 BTC was transferred from four activated wallets.

The largest of these involves 1,260.78 BTC, valued at about $1006.3 million. This wallet has been dormant since July 2016 and silent for more than a decade. Estimated to cost around $652 to build the vault, the potential return is approximately 12.122%.[2]

The longer the period, the higher the account gain.

In percentage terms, the earlier increase in coin holdings is more substantial. One dormant wallet held 10.25 BTC since March 2011, now worth about $792,000, an increase of over 8.38 million times its average cost of around $1.[citation needed] Another 100 BTC have been idle since November 2011 and are currently valued at approximately $809,000, up by about 2.49 million times.

The most recent occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning. A wallet holding 600 BTC, worth about US$51.9 million, transferred coins that had been dormant since July 2012, with a latency period of 14.2 years and potentially more than 1 million times higher.

The lawsuit behind the "Noah Doe" label

Three of the four wallets were labeled "Noah Doe" by the sender, in connection with a New York lawsuit that seeks to declare thousands of dormant bitcoin addresses as untrusted property. Since the judge suspended the case in June this year, there have been occasional transfers from well-known wallets linked to the case.

Such moves continue a major feature of activity on the bitcoin chain in 2026. In an earlier wave, six wallets transferred about $40 million over 10 days; and a chart by Galaxy shows that the oldest batches of bitcoins held for more than ten years are being activated with rare frequency.

The reason for the concern is that very few of those who owned Bitcoin in its early days now have their private keys, and each time a wallet wakes up it could mean long-lost supplies are back in circulation.

However, the transfer itself does not indicate whether the holder is selling, consolidating assets or moving to a new custody arrangement. The recipient of this recent 600 BTC transaction was also unidentified on the chain.