Satoshi-era Bitcoin awakens – 1005 BTC mined in 2010 on the move

A Bitcoin (BTC) wallet containing 1,005 BTC mined in 2010 has reawakened, with an anonymous user moving the long dormant coins to new addresses in a number of different transactions.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph, blockchain researcher, developer and cryptocurrency trader Kirill Kretov weighed in on the event after initially flagging the movement of the BTC which was mined just a year after Bitcoin’s inception.

Cointelegraph independently verified the details of the wallet using blockchain data from Blockchair. According to the wallet statement, the 1,005 BTC was valued at just $328 when it was received on 2010. The coins are valued at over $29 million at the time of publication. 

The wider cryptocurrency community also took note of the BTC awakening, with some questioning whether Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto was moving coins:

Looks like Satoshi is back! I can bet this wallet is owned by Satoshi Nakamoto himself.

— The Wise Guy (@wiseguyhoshi) August 16, 2023

Kretov told Cointelegraph that it was unlikely that Bitcoin’s creator was quietly moving virgin BTC, suggesting that a long term holder or entity associated with previous dormant Bitcoin awakenings was behind the transaction. The researcher added that the holder could be selling Bitcoin in an over the counter transaction:

“I may expect the price to be higher than the current market because these are 100% clean Bitcoins. Not to mention how old they are which makes them especially attractive to crypto-numismatics.”

Kretov believes that the wallet could be controlled by the same user that had previously moved Bitcoin from wallets in 13 different instances between 2020 and 2021. According to the researcher, this involved 13 awakenings, each of 1000 BTC (from 20 wallets containing 50 mined BTC amounting to 13,000 BTC.

Kretov also noted that his research archives, which monitor a large number of virgin Bitcoin wallets in the immediate years after Bitcoin’s inception, have only flagged three other awakenings of 1000 Bitcoin or more.

This included a first instance, where 1000 Bitcoin from two wallets mined in 2011 were moved in December 2021. In April 2023, 1000 BTC mined in 2011 was moved from a single wallet before another 1037 BTC were moved from a wallet dating back to 2012 in July 2023.

“Those BTC from 2011 and 2012 and the sources of funds are different – not freshly mined coins. So the present awakening is much closer to those 13 instances.”

As Cointelegraph recently reported, another dormant BTC wallet holding over 1,037 coins was transferred to a new address. The BTC had been obtained in April 2012 at an estimated value of $5100, while its total value when it was moved in 2023 was around $31 million.

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