$8.6 Billion Bitcoin Transfer Sparks Debate Over Owner’s Identity

An unknown entity has moved 80,000 BTC worth $8.6 billion from eight wallets inactive for 14 years. The community is debating two main theories: a hack or a planned transfer by the owner.

BILLIONAIRE BITCOIN WHALE UPDATE

Yesterday’s $8 billion transfers were possibly related to address upgrades, moving from 1- addresses to bc1q- addresses.

There are no indications that this whale is selling Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/wdK4Ppkv0J

— Arkham (@arkham) July 5, 2025

Initially, two addresses, each holding 10,000 BTC, became active. Later, six more wallets with similar amounts showed activity.

Analysts at Lookonchain suggested that all eight addresses are controlled by a single individual or organization. The coins were deposited into these wallets in April-May 2011.

A Bitcoin OG holding at least 80,009 $BTC($8.69B) woke up after 14+ years of dormancy and transferred out 40,000 $BTC($4.35B) today!

This OG controls about 8 wallets, 2 of which received 20,000 $BTC($15,600 at the time, $2.18B now) on April 2, 2011, when the price of $BTC was… pic.twitter.com/F8jULZ6Ee7

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 4, 2025

The movement of funds has sparked various theories about the owner’s identity. Sani, the founder of Timechain Index, believes the bitcoins belong to early investor Roger Ver.

I believe the 80K BTC may belong to Roger Ver. Here’s why:

Sometime last year, @MrHodl was discussing Roger and the potential size of his holdings during a Twitter Space.
That prompted me to dig into his historical purchase activity. I cross-referenced those dates with my…

— Sani | TimechainIndex.com (@SaniExp) July 4, 2025

Last year, the latter was arrested in Spain on charges of tax fraud in the United States.

Sani suggests the transfer might be part of a deal with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, to which Ver owes about $48 million.

Coinbase’s Director of Product, Conor Grogan, speculated that the transfers might be related to address hacks or the compromise of private keys.

Many community members disagree with Grogan’s theory, offering several counterarguments.

Firstly, hacking a Bitcoin wallet’s private key with current technology is virtually impossible due to its mathematical complexity.

Secondly, a hacker would not risk sending a test transaction in Bitcoin Cash, as it could alert the owner. Some experts consider such a transfer a standard procedure in large over-the-counter deals to confirm wallet control.

Thirdly, the transfer took about 10 hours. A malicious actor would have acted much faster.

Arkham analysts’ main theory is an address upgrade. Most coins were moved from old Legacy addresses to modern bech32.

Ledger’s CTO, Charles Guillemet, noted that these bitcoins date back to 2011, when modern standards like BIP39 did not exist.

Yesterday, 80,000 BTC (worth roughly $8 billion) were moved on-chain. These coins date back to 2011, before the BIP39 standard existed.

Back then, private keys were managed individually per address, with no hardware wallet support (even today). This suggests the keys were stored…

— Charles Guillemet (@P3b7_) July 5, 2025

Private keys were stored in wallet.dat files and signed by software wallets, which by modern standards is insecure.

The address upgrade theory does not explain all transactions. One of the 10,000 BTC transfers was sent to another Legacy address. The owner’s identity and the exact reasons for the fund movements remain unknown.

Earlier this year, from January to March, about 62,800 BTC, which had lain dormant for over seven years, ‘woke up’ and changed wallets, according to CryptoQuant.