Over 1,000 Satoshi-era BTC mined in 2010 can be found at Tradind Desks

by cryptheory

December 8, 2023

Reading Time: 2 mins read

Nearly 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth over $43 million were moved earlier this week after more than 13 years of stasis, on-chain analysis shows.

In a published report, blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant found that a Bitcoin address received 999 BTC in a single transaction on December 4th received.

The transaction involved inputs from twenty different addresses, each sending 50 BTC. While the receiving address was regenerated, the BTC sent were still freshly mined and came from Block Rewards between August and November 2010.

That was before Satoshi Nakamoto – the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin – stopped public communication via email and Bitcoin talk forums. Before 2012, each Bitcoin block contained at least 50 BTC in rewards for miners.

The moved coins were eventually consolidated into a separate address, which now contains 1,028 BTC ($44.6 million). “The 1,000 Bitcoin mined were worth a total of $100 at the time of mining,” according to CryptoQuant.

The company speculates that the original owner of the coins was a Bitcoin pioneer who acquired his coins through mining in the early days of the network. CryptoQuant also suspects that the miner has now sold these coins due to the transaction behavior of the recipient address.

“There is a possibility that the 1K Bitcoin was sent to an OTC or custodial service,” the company added. OTC trading (over-the-counter trading) is a private method for institutions to purchase or liquidate large amounts of BTC without immediately significantly affecting the market price.

When old BTC moves

This isn’t the first time Satoshi-era Bitcoin has moved this year: In July, a wallet that had been inactive for 11 years sent 1,037 BTC to a new address. These coins were first purchased in April 2012 and were worth just $5.37 each at the time.

In August, another wallet moved 1005 BTC after lying dormant for 12.8 years.

Satoshi-era coins are typically assumed to have been lost by their previous owners, as most investors from that era found it difficult to resist selling during Bitcoin’s volatile price performance.

Glassnode’s blockchain data suggests that BTC could rise sharply in the future as most long-term holders (155 days and more ) are apparently still not ready to sell their coins at the current prices.

I'd be surprised if #Bitcoin didn't consolidate / correct near term.

A few months rest would allow investor cost bases to re-acclimate above the True Market Mean Price.

Remarkably, the market hasn't given back more than ~20% YTD, which suggests persistent and strong spot demand pic.twitter.com/2Ohjkuuwuq

— _Checkmate 🟠🔑⚡☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) December 5, 2023