Dormant 4,000 BTC Miner Wallet Awakens Amid Potential Quantum Attack Fears

October 24, 2025

Dormant 4,000 BTC Miner Wallet Awakens Amid Potential Quantum Attack Fears

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14-year-old wallet moves $16.6M in BTC as analyst weigh security concerns and shifting on-chain behavior.

By James Van Straten, AI Boost|Edited by Oliver Knight

Updated Oct 24, 2025, 9:10 a.m. Published Oct 24, 2025, 9:10 a.m.

Dormant 4,000 Bitcoin Miner Wallet Reawakens  (Javier Rincon/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)
  • A miner wallet holding 4,000 BTC ($442 million ) moved 150 BTC ($16.6 million) after 14 years of inactivity.
  • The reawakening aligns with a broader trend of early “OG” holders moving or selling bitcoin.
  • Bitcoin OG, Nicholas Gregory warns that early bitcoin addresses may be vulnerable to future quantum attacks, prompting old holders to transfer coins to safer, unexposed addresses.

Data from Lookonchain shows an early bitcoin BTC$111,387.81 miner wallet holding 4,000 BTC (around $442 million) has become active for the first time in 14 years.
The wallet, identified as 18eY9o, transferred 150 BTC (roughly $16.6 million) after years of dormancy.

These coins were originally mined in 2009 and consolidated into the wallet in 2011. The movement may signal a rotation, potential selling, or simply a testing activity.
A major narrative this year has centered on sell pressure from early “OG” holders, who have started moving or selling their bitcoin after it reached the symbolic $100,000 milestone.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Don’t miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today.See all newslettersBy signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to ourterms of useandprivacy policy.

Onchain data shows significant realized profits, suggesting old holders are taking advantage of high prices. Earlier in the year, about 80,000 BTC linked to an early whale, inactive since 2011, sold the entire stash, using Galaxy Digital as the broker.

Some analysts also point to rising concerns over quantum computing and its potential threat to early bitcoin addresses, which could explain the movement of older coins.

Bitcoin OG and Fragrant Board Director Nicholas Gregory told CoinDesk about the potential threat of quantum attacks.

“It’s true that OG holders have been selling; however, coins from this era (2011) may be vulnerable to potential quantum attacks if their public keys have been exposed (as is the case with early P2PK addresses or reused P2PKH addresses),” he Gregory said.

“This could be a preemptive move to transfer coins to new, unexposed addresses that would be better sheltered from such quantum hacks”.

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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Dormant 4,000 BTC Miner Wallet Awakens Amid Potential Quantum Attack Fears

October 24, 2025

Dormant 4,000 BTC Miner Wallet Awakens Amid Potential Quantum Attack Fears

Markets

Share this article

14-year-old wallet moves $16.6M in BTC as analyst weigh security concerns and shifting on-chain behavior.

By James Van Straten, AI Boost|Edited by Oliver Knight

Updated Oct 24, 2025, 9:10 a.m. Published Oct 24, 2025, 9:10 a.m.

Dormant 4,000 Bitcoin Miner Wallet Reawakens  (Javier Rincon/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)
  • A miner wallet holding 4,000 BTC ($442 million ) moved 150 BTC ($16.6 million) after 14 years of inactivity.
  • The reawakening aligns with a broader trend of early “OG” holders moving or selling bitcoin.
  • Bitcoin OG, Nicholas Gregory warns that early bitcoin addresses may be vulnerable to future quantum attacks, prompting old holders to transfer coins to safer, unexposed addresses.

Data from Lookonchain shows an early bitcoin BTC$111,387.81 miner wallet holding 4,000 BTC (around $442 million) has become active for the first time in 14 years.
The wallet, identified as 18eY9o, transferred 150 BTC (roughly $16.6 million) after years of dormancy.

These coins were originally mined in 2009 and consolidated into the wallet in 2011. The movement may signal a rotation, potential selling, or simply a testing activity.
A major narrative this year has centered on sell pressure from early “OG” holders, who have started moving or selling their bitcoin after it reached the symbolic $100,000 milestone.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Don’t miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today.See all newslettersBy signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to ourterms of useandprivacy policy.

Onchain data shows significant realized profits, suggesting old holders are taking advantage of high prices. Earlier in the year, about 80,000 BTC linked to an early whale, inactive since 2011, sold the entire stash, using Galaxy Digital as the broker.

Some analysts also point to rising concerns over quantum computing and its potential threat to early bitcoin addresses, which could explain the movement of older coins.

Bitcoin OG and Fragrant Board Director Nicholas Gregory told CoinDesk about the potential threat of quantum attacks.

“It’s true that OG holders have been selling; however, coins from this era (2011) may be vulnerable to potential quantum attacks if their public keys have been exposed (as is the case with early P2PK addresses or reused P2PKH addresses),” he Gregory said.

“This could be a preemptive move to transfer coins to new, unexposed addresses that would be better sheltered from such quantum hacks”.

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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By CoinDesk Research

Oct 16, 2025

OwlTing logo

Commissioned by

OwlTing

OwlTing Report Open Graph Image

Stablecoin payment volumes have grown to $19.4B year-to-date in 2025. OwlTing aims to capture this market by developing payment infrastructure that processes transactions in seconds for fractions of a cent.

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By James Van Straten, AI Boost|Edited by Oliver Knight

1 hour ago

Miners (Shutterstock)

A massive Oracle-led AI infrastructure financing ignites a sharp rally in AI and HPC mining stocks.

What to know:

  • Oracle’s $38 billion data center financing—split between projects in Texas and Wisconsin—marks a major milestone in the company’s $500 billion AI infrastructure push with OpenAI’s Stargate initiative.
  • Cipher Mining (CIFR) and IREN (IREN) are both up 7%, while Bitfarms (BITF) has jumped 12%, reversing recent losses after a sector-wide correction.


 

Search

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