After Nearly 13 Years, Satoshi-Era Bitcoin (BTC) Wallet Suddenly Becomes Active

After remaining inactive for close to 13 years, a Bitcoin (BTC) whale has recently sold crypto assets valued at $29.75 million

 

Whale Alert, a blockchain monitoring platform, detected a transaction from a long-inactive Bitcoin (BTC) address, transferring its entire 1,005 BTC to an unidentified wallet.

This wallet initially acquired 1,000 Bitcoin in November 2010 when BTC's price was just $0.225, as per BitInfoCharts. It later added 5 BTC in April 2011, with Bitcoin priced at $1.31. By the time of Monday's transfer, the value of the whale's Bitcoin had surged by an astonishing 12,848,100%.

Over the past 12 years, this wallet sporadically received tiny Bitcoin amounts, suggesting potential dusting attacks. These attacks involve hackers sending small cryptocurrency amounts to numerous wallets, aiming to compromise user privacy. However, dusting can also be conducted by researchers or law enforcement for benign purposes.

Transactions from such dormant wallets often spark media buzz, leading to speculation about potential links to Bitcoin's elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Blockchain experts believe Nakamoto mined around one million BTC, beginning with the genesis block's 50 BTC reward on January 3rd, 2009. Satoshi's last known online activity was in December 2010.

Besides this transaction, several other significant Bitcoin transfers occurred on Monday:

  • 2,566 BTC (approx. $75.5 million) moved from an unknown wallet to Coinbase.
  • 2,567 BTC (over $75.5 million) shifted from another unidentified wallet to Coinbase.
  • 10,798 BTC (exceeding $317.7 million) transferred from Gemini to an unknown wallet.
  • 3,201 BTC (above $94.5 million) sent from an unknown wallet to Coinbase.

Aug 17, 2023

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