More than $8 billion worth of bitcoin mined during the network’s earliest days — colloquially known as the “Satoshi era” — were moved Friday in the largest such transfer on record.
Two wallets that had remained dormant for over 14 years each transferred 10,000 BTC to new addresses around early Friday, as CoinDesk reported. The two addresses had initially received their coins on April 3, 2011, when bitcoin traded at just 78 cents.
That BTC is now worth over $1.1 billion per wallet at current prices, marking an appreciation of more than 13.9 million percent.
The original source of the coins was wallet “1HqXB…gDwcK,” which sent 23,377.83 BTC to three separate wallets in 2011.
Two of those — “12tLs…xj2me” and “1KbrS…AWJYm” — held the bulk until this week. The third wallet, which received 3,377 BTC, had already spent its funds in 2011.
Late Friday, on-chain analysis firm Arkham flagged that six other wallets moved over 10,000 bitcoin (BTC) in quick succession, worth over $8.6 billion at current prices.
The same entity apparently owns all of these wallets, Akrham said. However, no individual or company has publicly claimed ownership of these wallets as of Asian morning hours on Saturday.
The transferred BTC was sent to fresh wallets using a modern, lower-fee address format. Neither of the new wallets has since moved the funds further, and the identity of the wallet owner remains unknown.
All of these moved coins are among the rarest class of BTC: mined or transacted during the “Satoshi era,” a loosely defined period from bitcoin’s launch in 2009 through 2011, when its pseudonymous creator was still active online.
Wallets from this time are considered part of crypto’s holy grail — rarely moved and often watched closely by traders for market signals, as any large sales could be perceived as an early believer or miner changing their stance on the market.