80,000 BTC have moved: what does that mean?
On July 4, 2025, eight Bitcoin portfolios from the Satoshi era and have moved a total of 80,000 BTC. Each portfolio contained 10,000 BTC, arousing inevitable disorders in the cryptocurrency space.
The Satoshi era is generally considered to extend over the years 2009 to 2011. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) could be treated or extracted with regular computer processors. Eight Bitcoin Dormant wallets each sent a transaction of around 10,000 BTC recently. This has led to speculations that threats from quantum IT caused transfers.
The parts were not sent directly to the exchanges of cryptocurrency. They went to new Segwit addresses, which suggests a safety upgrade. Segwit addresses are believed to be secured against quantum threats than older threats. The old addresses use the Pay-to-Public (P2PK) key or reused P2PK (P2PKH), which are more vulnerable.
Some messages on X have suggested that the transfer could display a security violation or quantum concerns. However, these statements lack evidence and seem speculative.
Between July 14 and 15, 2025, only 10 days after the big movement, the owner of the portfolio sent a total of 28,600 BTC, now estimated at more than $ 3 billion, in Galaxy Digital. Until now, 9,000 BTCs have been sold, probably triggering a downward trend on July 15, when BTC dropped approximately 5% compared to its last summit of $ 123,000.
Did you know? The Bitcoin price in 2011 fluctuated between $ 0.78 and $ 3.37 when the whale bought Bitcoin. On average of $ 2.45 per Bitcoin, the 80,000 BTC would have cost the whale an initial investment of $ 19,200. At today about $ 118,000, the Whale BTC is worth $ 9.44 billion, an increase of around 4,800,000%.
What is the quantum threat to Bitcoin?
Quantum technology is a threat to Bitcoin because it can compromise private keys to your wallet. This could potentially risk all the bitcoin you have in this wallet.
Many believe that quantum computers can break the Bitcoin network and pose a serious risk for its survival. Bitcoin developers improve the system to combat future risks, although the real threat is still in the years. They focus on sleeping Bitcoin wallets because they are more at risk of quantum attacks.
Quantum could take advantage of weaknesses in asymmetrical cryptography protecting Bitcoin wallets. This includes the digital signature algorithm of the Elliptical Courbe (ECDSA) that Bitcoin uses for security.
Bitcoin wallets are secured by ECDSA to generate a pair of private keys. If the ECDSA algorithm is compromised, your bitcoins are in danger. Experts believe that practical quantum attacks could occur in five to 20 years and see 2030-2048 as possible dates.
Former wallets are the most vulnerable to a quantum attack because they use reused P2PK or P2PKH addresses, where public keys are exposed. It is estimated that 5.9 million BTC (approximately 25% of the offer) are in reused P2PK or P2PKH addresses; Therefore, these pieces are vulnerable to future quantum attacks.
The 80,000 BTCs came from P2PK addresses. Their public keys were not yet exposed because these were old Bitcoin transactions which had first place. This meant that they were quantum security at that time. Move them to Segwit addresses still improves security.
Bitcoin developers, led by the founder of Casa and director of Jameson LOPP technology, proposed a proposal to improve Bitcoin (BIP) to respond to the potential threat of quantum IT for Bitcoin security. The proposal aims to protect the network by freezing and eliminating vulnerable portfolios to quantum attacks, which could potentially compromise around 25% of the Bitcoin supply, including the 1 million BTC estimated by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoin Whale inactive for 14 years
The analysis of Arkham Bitcoin’s whales analyzed the eight portfolios and found that they belong to the same entity. This has aroused speculation about which this most recent Bitcoin whale is.
A cryptocurrency is a person or an entity that has a substantial quantity of a particular cryptocurrency, quite often to potentially influence market prices. A Bitcoin whale that suddenly moves 80,000 BTC after 14 years of inactivity was not going to go unnoticed. Bitcoin whale trackers analyze blockchain data and transactions, but being a big open book, the blockchain is visible for everyone.
A suspicious activity had been recorded the day before the main transfer of the BTC. A transaction of 10,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was made from a related wallet cluster, possibly to test access to the private key. This has increased the speculation of a potential hack, as noted by Coinbase Conor Grogan, although no evidence has yet been found.
However, one of the most sustained theories is that it was Roger Ver’s Bitcoin movement because of its early involvement with Bitcoin since 2011. Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus”, was arrested in Spain on American tax evasion costs in April 2024. He is accused of not paying $ 48 million Bitcoin.
He was released on bail in June 2025, just before the movement occurred, arousing additional speculation according to which the portfolios are his.
Did you know? These 10,000 BTC movements come from eight wallets. Everyone marks the largest Bitcoin transaction of all time. The previous record for the largest unique transaction in the history of Bitcoin was only 3,700 BTC.
What are the messages OP_Preturn?
Op_return messages are a characteristic of the Bitcoin blockchain which allows users to incorporate small amounts of data, with a maximum size of 80 bytes, directly in a transaction, which marks the output as indisposable.
From July 1 to July 4, 2025, four operations return messages were added to the Bitcoin blockchain. These messages were sent to several wallets at the same time.
The first, July 1, 2025, at 12:30 am, read as follows:
“Legal opinion: we have taken possession of this portfolio and its content.” (Transaction ID: 4F7C80C05FD77A9C9B180F7F6400560D1AB6CF3A4BA1BF7429EEFA500A05).
Three additional messages were sent in the coming days, culminating on July 4, 2025. A message gave an ultimatum to the owner of the portfolio. They must prove the property by performing an onchain transaction with their private keys before September 30, 2025.
There is no evidence of hacking. It is more likely a planned spam campaign. This might be to deceive the owner of the portfolio in moving funds to show control. Scholars often target dormant wallets, saying that they are abandoned.
The spam campaign has triggered speculation on various online platforms. Some have hypothesized that the OP_return messages were a “legal blow” or a scam to put pressure on the owner of the whale to reveal itself.
Others called “Blockchain Graffiti” messages. It is often a way to fill the daring data channel. However, their specific concentration and calendar show clear intention.