According to data provided by Lookonchain, a Bitcoin address that had been dormant for over 14 years transferred 10,000 BTC ($1.09 billion) earlier this Friday.
Shortly after that, it was revealed that yet another $1 billion BTC address of the same Bitcoin OG had been emptied.
Both wallets received their coins when they were worth just $0.78 back in April 2011.
Bitcoin is currently changing hands at $109,027, according to CoinGecko data.
The great switchover
According to a recent Bloomberg report that cites data from 10x Research, ancient Bitcoin whales have been selling their holdings en masse, offloading more than $50 billion in BTC over the past year. Some whales are swapping their coins for equity exposure.
These anonymous whales include miners, hedge funds, or wealth management firms registered in tax-friendly jurisdictions, as well as unidentified whales.
This explains why Bitcoin has been struggling to rally despite massive BTC inflows recorded by exchange-traded products and growing corporate adoption.