Arkham Intelligence detected a massive Bitcoin transaction from Nucleus Marketplace, a dark web drug market that has been totally inactive for nine years. Nucleus moved $77.5 million to three wallets, leaving $365 million behind.
So-called “ancient” Bitcoin whales pop up in the space periodically, but an extant darknet vendor is still quite rare. Nucleus’ assets have appreciated in value astronomically, but it will be very difficult to convert this BTC into fiat currency.
Dark Web Bitcoin Whale Wakes Up
If there’s one constant in the crypto space and finance more broadly, it’s that money never sleeps. Earlier today, on-chain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence discovered rapid action from a long-dormant source.
Nucleus Marketplace, a darknet market with zero activity in the last nine years, woke up to move over $77.5 million worth of Bitcoin.
“Nucleus Marketplace was a darknet drug market, and it was believed that the founder had either been apprehended by law enforcement or had exit-scammed when the market went offline in 2016. The BTC held in their wallets has not been moved until today,” Arkham claimed.
This defunct darknet market didn’t immediately move all its Bitcoin, and Nucleus still retains about $365 million in BTC. The price of Bitcoin has shot up astronomically since the company’s heyday; at no point in 2016 did BTC cross the $1,000 price point.
Whoever controls this wallet is acting somewhat conservatively, moving these assets into three separate wallets.
Although the dark web angle may be particularly eye-catching, Bitcoin moves from decade-old wallets surprisingly often. These ancient whales can come from several backgrounds, like early crypto miners or unlaundered stolen assets.
Darknet market transactions are somewhat less common, although a few remain at large despite major legal crackdowns.
As novel as this darknet wallet may be in 2025, it doesn’t seem too likely to have much of an impact on Bitcoin. At the moment, it’s impossible to tell who is controlling Nucleus’ wallet, be it an original operator, associate, or hacker.
Regardless of who controls the wallet, it would be very difficult for anyone to convert this BTC into fiat without notice. These wallets are constantly monitored, and any suspicious activity could trigger community actions.
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