A total of 553.59 bitcoin has moved over the past 10 days from six bitcoin wallets that had been inactive for more than 10 years. At current value, it is worth about $40.15 million. As long-dormant whale wallets move in succession, the market is focusing on what is behind the transfers.

On Aug. 26 (local time), blockchain outlet Decript reported that Galaxy Research tracked recent transactions from bitcoin wallets that had been dormant since 2011, 2012 and 2014. The wallets moved funds in sequence from Aug. 16 to 26.

The first wallet to move transferred 8.54 bitcoin on Aug. 16. It had not traded for more than 15 years since June 13, 2011. Its purchase price is estimated at about $14 per bitcoin at the time, and the value at the time of transfer reached about $538,000. The potential return is about 461,981 percent.

On Aug. 18, 212 bitcoin moved from a wallet that had been dormant since Aug. 10, 2012. At current value, it is worth about $13.66 million. The wallet in particular carried the tag "Noah Doe #1396 · Salomon Client Dusted".

A few hours later the same day, 10.74 bitcoin left another dormant 2011 wallet. On Aug. 22, 150 bitcoin was transferred from a wallet that had not moved since Dec. 26, 2014. That wallet also carried the tag "Noah Doe #1680". On Aug. 22, a total of 132.31 bitcoin also moved from three 2011 addresses. Galaxy Research said the potential return for the "1EBzWeno" address was the highest at about 807,639 percent.

The most recent move was confirmed on Aug. 26. A wallet with no transactions for about 14.2 years since May 28, 2012 moved 40 bitcoin. The receiving address for the funds was identified as Germany-based cryptocurrency custody bank Borse Stuttgart Digital.

Galaxy Research estimated the wallet's purchase price at about $5 per bitcoin at the time. That implies a potential return of about 1,535,911 percent, the highest among the six wallets confirmed in this case.

It is also drawing attention that some long-dormant wallets are linked to a New York court lawsuit. Two of the six wallets that moved carried the "Salomon Client Dusted" tag. The marking is known to be related to an anonymous plaintiff, Noah Doe, who filed a lawsuit asking a New York court to recognise about 39,069 dormant bitcoin addresses as unclaimed property.

The plaintiff's side is reported to have sent small dust transactions to thousands of bitcoin wallets and left on-chain messages. The court in early June temporarily halted default judgment proceedings in the case. Since then, some of the addresses targeted in the lawsuit have been observed moving in succession, fuelling interest in any link between the lawsuit and the recent wallet transfers.

The exact cause of this move was not confirmed. The possibility of reallocating assets due to security concerns has also been raised. Decript reported that about 233,000 bitcoin moved from long-term holding wallets around late July, when a vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets became known.

At the time, the fund moves coincided with a trend of Coldcard users as well as Ledger and Trezor users shifting assets to what they saw as safer storage methods. But among the six wallets that moved over the past week, only one case was directly linked to an exchange, with funds going to Borse Stuttgart Digital.

It is also possible the remaining wallets' funds were moved back into cold wallets. Conversely, it cannot be ruled out that the moves are part of preparations for selling. That means it is difficult at this stage to determine whether any actual sale has taken place.

This is not the first time long-dormant bitcoin wallets have moved. Galaxy Research earlier this month also spotted a case in which 26.96 bitcoin moved from a wallet that had been inactive for about 12.5 years since January 2014. Galaxy Research assessed that moves from old bitcoin wallets are appearing more frequently. As the pace of such moves has accelerated over the past six months, attention is growing on whether fund transfers by long-dormant bitcoin holders will continue.