A Bitcoin address that sat completely untouched for nearly 15 years executed its first-ever outgoing transaction on August 6, 2026, sweeping 49.97 BTC worth approximately $3.23 million to a fresh wallet in a single move.
The Wallet and Its Ancient Coins
According to monitoring by Galaxy Research, the address beginning with ‘1EBz’ first received its Bitcoin on July 16, 2011, when BTC traded for under $15 per coin. The address showed zero activity until 20:14 UTC on August 6, 2026, when a single transaction at block 961331 cleared the entire balance.
At a rough cost basis of approximately $10 per coin, the 49.97 BTC would have cost around $500 to acquire in mid-2011. At current prices near $65,000 per coin, the position is now valued at $3.23 million, representing a gain of 634,347%. That return belongs to Bitcoin’s earliest years, when the asset was a thinly traded experiment rather than a $1.3 trillion market, and very few holders kept either the coins or the keys that long.
Where the Coins Went
On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence shows the receiving wallet subsequently routed funds to a wallet labeled as belonging to FalconX, a prime broker that serves institutional trading firms rather than retail customers. The link does not confirm that any sale has occurred, but it raises the possibility that whoever controls the coins is consolidating them or moving them closer to a venue where they could be traded or used as collateral.
Galaxy Research flagged the movement on X, noting the address carries no attribution and putting the gain at $3.23 million on a cost basis of roughly $10 a coin held for 15 years. That gain remains unrealised unless and until the coins are sold, which the on-chain record does not show.
A Recurring Pattern in Bitcoin
Large, aged Bitcoin wallets waking up is not unprecedented. A Satoshi-era whale moved $11 million after 12 years dormant in 2023. Another ancient stash changed wallets after 12 years of inactivity in the same year. In 2024, nearly 50,000 BTC worth $2 billion shifted after sitting idle since 2013, with analysts pointing to an exchange or custodian rebalancing rather than a single early adopter cashing out. Bitcoin whales woke up repeatedly throughout 2025 and moved billions of dollars in total.
In most documented cases, the destination address points to professional infrastructure rather than a private holder liquidating spontaneously.
The Coin Days Destroyed Metric
Analysts track these events using a metric called Coin Days Destroyed, also referred to as Satoshi Days. Every day a coin remains unmoved, it accrues one day of age. When the coin is finally transferred, those accumulated days are wiped out in a single event. A single transfer from a 2011-vintage wallet erases more than 5,400 days per coin, producing a large score that signals an old balance has changed hands.
A high Coin Days Destroyed reading can indicate an early adopter taking profit or simply relocating coins for security or custody purposes. The metric records that the movement happened but provides no information on intent, which is why some traders watch these events closely, anticipating potential selling pressure if the holder decides to realise their gain. At this size the concern is largely academic, since fifty coins is a rounding error against daily Bitcoin volume.
The BTC was still sitting in the receiving address as of Friday, August 7, the last point at which the movement was publicly tracked.
