Stock Market Shock: Why Are Traders Suddenly Flocking to High-Risk Assets in 2025?

After nine years of dormancy, a crypto wallet was reactivated recently. This wallet is linked to a darknet marketplace, creating more mystery. As such, this unexpected movement has sparked curiosity within the crypto community. The wallet had remained untouched since Nucleus shut down in 2016, but recently, it transferred a large sum of Bitcoin. This activity follows a major price surge, leaving millions of dollars still in the address. More long-dormant wallets have also been reactivated, continuing a growing trend.  

Ghost Wallet Resurfaces: $77.5M in Bitcoin Moved

The crypto wallet connected to the darknet marketplace Nucleus has made some moves after it remained untouched for nine years. The wallet has not had any transactions since April 2016, as this year marks the Nucleus marketplace shutdown. This darknet marketplace went dark, with nearly 5,000 BTC still being deposited from users and vendors. At the time of the closing, this amount of BTC was equal to approximately $2.1 million. 

Graph 1- Provided by Archam Intelligence, published on Tradingview, March 8, 2025

Graph 1 shows Arkham Intelegences data shows that a wallet connected to the Nucleus has made transactions. The data shows that $77.5 million worth of BTC has been sent to another three new wallets. After the transaction, the remaining $365 million in BTC remains in the original address. The Nucleus marketplace was just another website on the darknet that hosted transactions related to selling illegal products. 

What Really Happened to Nucleus? Dark Web Mystery

This marketplace was involved in the sale of drugs and weapons. As such, many have made their own narrative about the Nucleus marketplace shutdown. The officially announced reason for it was that Nucleus was hacked. However, some believed that this was just an exit scam, while there was also a rumor about the admin being arrested. Like many other websites and marketplaces on the dark web, users transacted with BTC because of its anonymity. As their activities were illegal, the customers and vendors used cryptocurrency to make it harder for authorities to track them.

Bitcoin Boom Triggers Ancient Wallet Movements 

The wallet connected to the Nuclues website has been reactivated after the historic surge of Bitcoin. In 2023, each Bitcoin was worth around $17K. However, it reached an ATH of $109K in 2025. As this surge continued, some crypto wallets reactivated, which had been dormant for years. Just like the Nucleus case, some reactivated wallets last had a transaction in the 2010s. A wallet that had been unused for 11 years moved all of the 1037 BTC in it in July 2023. 

In 2024, this trend continued as many long-dormant wallets began transacting. Three wallets started moving BTC again in May 2024. Two of these each sent 1,000 BTC, which was worth $61 million; the other wallet moved 687 bitcoins. June also saw a significant reawakening when a big investor’s crypto wallet reactivated, moving 8,000 BTC after five years. After 15 years of inactivity, five other wallets showed movement and transferred the coins. We could see further movement in ancient wallets as quantum computing could lead to hackers easily breaking into early wallets.

Crypto Comeback: Old Bitcoin Wallets Moving Millions

The sudden activity of the Nucleus-linked wallet reflects a larger pattern of dormant Bitcoin addresses becoming active again. As Bitcoin’s value climbs, we can see more whale-owned crypto wallets reactivated as investors become aware of their long-forgotten investments. Future technological advancements like quantum computing could threaten older wallets with weaker encryption. As such, owners also may move their assets to prevent losses. Regulatory bodies might increase scrutiny to track illegal transactions. Meanwhile, the mystery of these reawakened wallets will persist, fueling speculation.