Bitcoin wallets that earned 50 BTC each for mining blocks in 2009 and remained inactive since have come alive to move their holdings.
Five wallets from the Satoshi era moved 50 bitcoin (BTC) each to different ones on 20 September, amounting to 250 BTC worth about $16 million. These wallets received their stash as mining rewards in 2009, soon after the Bitcoin network began operating.
The period between 2009 and 2011 is referred to as the Satoshi era—a time when Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was active on various messaging boards. They have been silent ever since.
Whale Alerts altered the crypto community about these wallets that remained dormant from that time coming back to life last Friday. While it is unknown if all the wallets belong to one person, the coordinated nature of the five transactions, which occurred within an hour, may indicate so. None of the wallets receiving the funds from the Satoshi era wallets belonged to crypto exchanges. So, it is uncertain whether the transactions occurred to sell the BTC.
The first of the five posts made by Whale Alerts read, “A dormant address containing 50 #BTC (3,184,108 USD) has just been activated after 15.7 years!” The others read similarly and describe the transactions conducted by each of the remaining four wallets.
A Satoshi Era Wallet Moved 50 BTC to Binance in July
Multiple Satoshi era wallets have resurfaced to transact or sell their holdings since 2023. One wallet moved 50 BTC to Binance in July 2024—the same amount as the funds moved by the wallets last week. Furthermore, that wallet also received the amount as mining rewards in 2010.
Bitcoin’s price was just $0.05 then and even lower in 2009 when the wallets from last week’s transactions received block rewards. Mining rewards from Bitcoin’s genesis block till four years after stood at 50 BTC. Today, the block reward was reduced to 3.125 BTC, and each coin is worth over $60,000.
