Researchers quantify bitcoins on ‘dormant’ addresses

Researchers at Crystal Blockchain have counted the number of bitcoins on addresses that have not transacted since January 1, 2015.

Crystal Blockchain divided the ‘dormant addresses’ by balance:

• up to 1 BTC;
• from 1 to 10 BTC;
• from 10 to 100 BTC;
• over 100 BTC.

As of July 21, 2020, these addresses held 3,756,486 BTC. The number of addresses stood at 2,431,237.

98.7% of this sum is concentrated in just 5% of the ‘dormant’ addresses (121,435).

Crystal Blockchain data.

In the image below are the five addresses with the largest balances. The third on the list, with a balance of 31,000 BTC, is said to have access to private keys.

Crystal Blockchain data.

Another criterion was the number of transactions. The image below shows the Top-5. The first address in the list was probably created for burning bitcoins and does not hold the private key. The second one likely has access to the balance, albeit a small one — 2 BTC.

Crystal Blockchain data.

Crystal Blockchain determined the origins of the bitcoins arriving at dormant addresses.

• Miners and mined coins;
• Exchanges;
• Wallets;
• Unknown addresses;
• Darknet;
• Gambling;
• Mixers, extortion, stolen coins, scams and illicit services;
• Processors, marketplaces and ATMs.

The distribution of coins is shown below.

Crystal Blockchain data.

“Dormant addresses” received coins worth $641 million (at the price at the time of the transactions); however the current value of these bitcoins is $35 billion.

Crystal Blockchain data.

The full Crystal Blockchain report is available at the link.

In May, 50 bitcoins mined on February 9, 2009 began moving. The network of the first cryptocurrency had been operating for just over a month at the time. Many users suggested the sender could be Satoshi Nakamoto, but analysis of so-called Patoshi patterns did not confirm the hypothesis.

Bitcoin that may belong to Satoshi Nakamoto has moved.

In May, 145 addresses created in 2009-2010 also woke up. They signed a message accusing Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright of fraud.

In the Kleiman v. Wright case, Wright asserted that these 145 addresses belonged to him.

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