YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — The Nucleus Marketplace, an inactive dark web drug market, transferred $77.5 million in Bitcoin after being dormant for nine years. The transaction, detected by Arkham Intelligence, involved sending funds to three wallets, while approximately $365 million in Bitcoin remains untouched.
The Nucleus Marketplace ceased operations in 2016, and its assets have remained unmoved since then. Investigators had speculated that its founders were arrested or that the marketplace shut down due to an exit scam. The latest transfer has raised questions about who now controls the remaining Bitcoin holdings.
Nucleus Bitcoin Wallet Resurfaces After Years of Inactivity
Arkham Intelligence confirmed the Bitcoin transfer, highlighting that the Nucleus Marketplace’s wallet had not been used since the platform went offline.
“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 Intelligence stated.
The Bitcoin market has changed significantly since 2016, when prices never exceeded $1,000 per BTC. Today, the remaining Nucleus funds are worth hundreds of millions, making any attempt to cash out the Bitcoin complex due to blockchain monitoring.
Dark Web Bitcoin Split Into Three Wallets
The $77.5 million in Bitcoin was distributed across three separate wallets, rather than being moved in a single transaction. This method has been observed in previous cases involving old Bitcoin wallets, often linked to early adopters, lost funds, or unlaundered assets.
Darknet markets have historically been targets of law enforcement, and large Bitcoin transfers from these sources receive attention. Blockchain analysis firms closely monitor such movements, making it difficult to convert the funds into fiat without raising suspicion.
Despite the scale of this transfer, it has had no immediate effect on the Bitcoin market. The identity of the wallet controller remains unknown, whether it is an original operator, an associate, or an unauthorized actor. The remaining $365 million in Bitcoin has yet to be moved.
