U.Today - Data shared by prominent blockchain sleuth Whale Alert shows that over the past 10 hours, anonymous whales have exchanged more than a billion U.S. dollars worth of the world’s leading cryptocurrency – Bitcoin .

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has managed to recapture the $98,000 level, but that did not last long.

$1.26 billion in Bitcoin changes hands

The data source mentioned above has spotted four gargantuan crypto transactions carrying 12,887 BTC cumulatively. The largest of those transfers comprised a whopping 7,300 Bitcoins worth $712,542,707 in fiat.

The rest of the transactions moved 2,834 BTC ($278,847,109), 1,346 BTC and 1,407 BTC. In total, these four blockchain transactions have shoveled a mind-blowing $1,260,727,232 worth of Bitcoin.

All of them, according to Whale Alert, were conducted between anonymous cryptocurrency wallets. The crypto community was puzzled and intrigued as to the nature and the destination of those immense Bitcoin transfers. Some X users in the comments suggested that those were likely over-the-counter purchases of the world’s flagship cryptocurrency.

If they were indeed OTC sales, they did not impact the current Bitcoin price, while buyers have stocked up on some BTC on the dip.

Dormant whale moves 14,000 BTC

As reported by major on-chain data aggregator CryptoQuant, a cryptocurrency whale that had remained dormant for a period between seven and ten years, moved a staggering amount of crypto – 14,000 Bitcoins valued at $1,372,628,460 in fiat – a little more than the Bitcoin amount mentioned above.

An analyst working with CryptoQuant stated that these Bitcoins were moved to another wallet and not to any crypto exchange, centralized or decentralized. This suggested, he continued, that the BTC was not “intended for immediate sale.”

These 14,000 Bitcoin clearly come from the early days of crypto, when BTC was easy to mine on a home laptop or buy relatively cheaply. Many dormant wallets have been awakening over the past few years, as the leading cryptocurrency has been scoring new all-time highs and, in particular, a lot have been reactivated since November.

A month after the U.S. presidential election, Bitcoin surged above the $108,000 all-time high, making old-time whales bring their BTC to exchanges to lock in well-deserved profits.

This article was originally published on U.Today