$8.7B in BTC Moved After 14 Years

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Good Morning.

BTC failed to break a new all-time high over the weekend, perhaps market excitement during today’s US open will finally be able to get it over the line. Unsurprisingly, fundamentals are becoming important in crypto, with BONK jumping 55% over the past week thanks to its buyback-and-burn.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Move $8.7B 🚨 

• Product of the Week: ETH Strategy’s Leveraged ETH 🔎 

• Charts: DeFi Fees Hit 2025 Highs, Secret Service Recovers $400M Crypto 👀 

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WHAT MATTERS

Dormant Bitcoin Wallets Move $8.7B

State of play: After more than 14 years of inactivity, a Bitcoin OG holding at least 80K BTC (~$8.69B), reactivated all associated wallets and transferred out the entire stash. The wallets originally received BTC in 2011 when prices were under $4/ BTC.

• Two wallets got 20K BTC in April 2011, when BTC traded at $0.78. At the time, that was worth only $15K. Today, the same coins are valued at about $2.18B.

• Six more wallets received 60K BTC on May 4, 2011, when the price had climbed to $3.37. Back then, that was worth around $202K, now over $6.52B.

• Recently, all 8 wallets moved their BTC, transferring the full 80K BTC to new modern addresses that help reduce transaction fees and improve privacy.

Addresses involved:

• 1KbrSKrT3GeEruTuuYYUSQ35JwKbrAWJYm

• 12tLs9c9RsALt4ockxa1hB4iTCTSmxj2me

• 1P1iThxBH542Gmk1kZNXyji4E4iwpvSbrt

• 1CPaziTqeEixPoSFtJxu74uDGbpEAotZom

• 1f1miYFQWTzdLiCBxtHHnNiW7WAWPUccr

• 1BAFWQhH9pNkz3mZDQ1tWrtKkSHVCkc3fV

• 14YK4mzJGo5NKkNnmVJeuEAQftLt795Gec

• 1ucXXZQSEf4zny2HRwAQKtVpkLPTUKRtt

Onchain analysts believe a single entity controls all eight wallets. So far, the new receiving addresses have not moved any Bitcoin again. The owner’s identity and reasons for moving such a massive fortune remain unknown.

Our take: BTC as an asset is mature enough that such large movements don’t spook the market as much. There’s enough liquidity and excitement around the asset to absorb the potential sell pressure.

For builders and investors: Nothing much.

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

ETH Strategy’s Leveraged ETH Without Liquidation

ETH Strategy is a DeFi protocol that offers leveraged exposure to Ethereum without the usual risks of liquidations or volatility decay. It does this by issuing convertible bonds, where users deposit stablecoins and receive debt tokens plus NFT options.

• The protocol uses these funds to buy ETH for its on-chain treasury.

• Holders of STRAT tokens get leveraged ETH exposure and can borrow ETH from the treasury using STRAT as collateral.

• This setup grows the treasury, generates yield, and avoids interest costs by embedding conversion rights in the debt.

Key Components:

• STRAT: A leverage token tied to ETH

• CDT: A debt token

• NFT Options: Convertible rights to STRAT

In short, ETH Strategy is a decentralized way to get high-beta ETH exposure securely and transparently.

Other cool products:

• Cluster Yield, an AI trading platform.

• IntentX, an OTC derivatives exchange.

• Mitosis, a network for programmable liquidity.

• INIT Capital, a Liquidity Hook Money Market platform.

• INDX, an on-chain platform for crypto traded funds (CTFs) on Base.

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CHARTS OF THE WEEK

DeFi Fees Hit 2025 Highs

State of play: Monthly DeFi fees have surged 58% from April lows, reaching about $577M in recent months as on-chain activity rebounds.

• Leading platforms like PancakeSwap generated $275M in fees through trading, farming, and other mechanisms.

• Protocols including Uniswap, Aave, and Pump.fun are driving revenue by optimizing fee structures across swaps, lending, and memecoin trading.

• This growth highlights DeFi’s ability to monetize sustainably without traditional intermediaries.

Our take: Speculation still drives the highest fees.

Secret Service Recovers $400M in Crypto

State of play: The US Secret Service has recovered nearly $400M in crypto from criminals over the past decade.

• Much of the funds are held in a single cold-storage wallet.

• In June, the agency seized $225M in its largest crypto bust to date, working with the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office.

• Beyond seizures, the Secret Service has trained officials in over 60 countries to combat crypto crime, with help from companies like Coinbase and Tether.

Our take: Crypto exploits recovery are becoming more a of a norm rather than a “lucky” occurence - signs of maturity.

QUICK BITES

• Metaplanet adds 2,205 BTC for ~$239M.

• Hong Kong eyes stablecoin licenses this year.

• Ondo plans to acquire US-regulated broker Oasis Pro.

• Elon Musk says his new political party will support Bitcoin.

• Vitalik proposes gas limit cap of 16.77M/TX to reduce DoS risk.

• Shenzhen authorities warn against stablecoin investment scams.

• US Secret Service recovered nearly $400M in crypto from criminals.

• Eight BTC wallets move 80,000 BTC in the largest ever ‘Satoshi era’ transfers.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• 0xAnn’s read on July as a strong month for BTC.

• Kakashii’s read on CoreWeave & accounting elasticity.

• eli5defi’s read on the Solana ecosystem report H1 2025 summary.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.