Expert Suggests Possible Breach of Bitcoin Wallets Holding $8.6 Billion

There is a slight chance that the recent transfers of 80,000 BTC, which had remained dormant for over 14 years, are linked to a breach of addresses or the compromise of private keys. This was stated by Coinbase’s Director of Product, Conor Grogan.

There is a small possibility that the $8B in BTC that recently woke up were hacked or compromised private keys

I found a single BCH test transaction from one of the BTC whale clusters 14 hours ago, followed by the full amount. An hour later, the BTC wallets began to move (1/3) pic.twitter.com/VzRnaUyIG7

— Conor (@jconorgrogan) July 4, 2025

“If true (again, this is speculative), it would undoubtedly be the largest heist in human history,” he emphasized.

Grogan pointed to a suspicious Bitcoin Cash (BCH) transaction from a bitcoin whale address. Approximately an hour later, transfers of 10,000 BTC each were made from eight separate wallets.

The expert acknowledged that the user might have been testing a private key through a BCH transaction. However, Grogan noted it was suspicious that other cryptocurrency addresses were not involved.

“This is all extreme speculation, but the movements here are extremely odd. I don’t think it’s an exchange wallet, due to the activity in BCH. The BTC transfers appear to have been made manually,” he added.

Arkham specialists concluded that a single entity is behind the movement of bitcoins worth $8.6 billion. All assets were acquired on April 2 or May 4, 2011.

BILLIONAIRE BITCOIN WHALE WALLETS ARE WAKING UP

So far, 7 addresses have now moved a total of $7.6 Billion in BTC since last night.

The addresses below have all been holding since April-May 2011, over 14 years. pic.twitter.com/AMbc3sUMAM

— Arkham (@arkham) July 4, 2025

At the time of writing, the coins are held in eight new addresses.

Earlier in 2025, losses in the crypto industry from hacking attacks amounted to $2.1 billion, according to a report by TRM Labs.