Bitcoin whale moves $33 million after 13 years of dormancy, named in lawsuit

Whale movement traced to lawsuit over abandoned wallets

The address, which begins with “13Coop,” had not sent any Bitcoin since it was first loaded on September 11, 2013, according to data from both Galaxy Research and analytics platform Arkham. At the time, Bitcoin prices hovered around $130, making the initial value of the 411.45 BTC roughly $54,000. Galaxy analysts calculated the wallet’s average cost basis at about $127 per coin, giving the owner an unrealized gain of more than 64,000% after 13 years of inactivity.

The transferred coins are now located in a single, newly created address. Blockchain data shows no evidence that the receiver is linked to any known cryptocurrency exchange, leaving it unclear whether the funds are being prepared for sale or will remain dormant.

Galaxy Research tagged the sending address as “Noah Doe #970,” placing it among 39,069 dormant wallets named in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in New York by a plaintiff using the pseudonym Noah Doe, alongside two Wyoming-based firms.

Mini dictionary: Galaxy Research, the analytics arm of digital asset financial services firm Galaxy Digital, is known for tracking long-term trends in Bitcoin address activity and providing blockchain analytics and research.

In the New York lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim approximately 3.8 million BTC held by dormant wallets should be considered abandoned property under state lost-and-found law. However, the plaintiffs do not possess the private keys for these wallets.

Testing the lawsuit’s claims

According to Galaxy Research, the activation of these old wallets undermines the legal case, as spending coins requires possession of the private keys. This evidence shows at least some targeted wallets remain in active ownership. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, has observed a steady acceleration in the number of “Noah Doe” wallets showing on-chain activity month over month.

Galaxy also indicated that the wallet was one of those targeted in a 2025 “dusting” campaign. This scheme sent tiny amounts of Bitcoin embedded with messages to dormant addresses, possibly to help bolster the claim that such wallets were abandoned. Arkham analysis confirms a history of dust transactions, with some flagged as phishing attempts.

Every new transaction out of these addresses creates challenges for arguments that the wallets have been abandoned, according to industry observers.

Uptick in old coin movements

The recent transfer joins a growing list of substantial sums moving out of long-inactive wallets. Data from Galaxy Research points to a notable acceleration in the awakening of Bitcoin’s oldest coins throughout 2026.

Barely a week ago, a Satoshi-era address mined in 2010 moved for the first time in 16 years. In late September, approximately $161 million in decade-old Bitcoin was shifted over two weeks. Last week, another whale moved $377 million after holding through all major market downturns since 2020.

This pattern indicates an emerging trend in the landscape of long-dormant crypto wallets and raises fresh questions about potential future movements as legal scrutiny intensifies.