2024 is an unusual year for Bitcoin, marked by a historically significant event: the transfer of five block rewards from 2009, which had remained untouched since they were mined.
Echoes of Genesis from Last Year
On September 20, 2024, between block heights 862,079 and 862,087, five ancient coinbase rewards, worth a total of 250 BTC, were fully spent. At that time, the trading price of Bitcoin was slightly above $63,000 each. These transactions originated from early legacy P2PKH addresses. Transactions involving 2009's unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) are rare, although the unspent transaction outputs that year were more than in subsequent mining periods.
For example, 90,850.10 BTC in unused coinbase rewards remains an astonishing $8.9 billion of undeveloped value from 2009. Spending in September comes from wallets established on January 29, January 30, January 31 (two wallets), and February 2, 2009. These transfers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) have been extraordinarily rare since 2009; the last event involving 2009 UTXOs occurred on April 7 and 8, 2022.
In 2024, blockchain witnessed the movement of tens of thousands of so-called 'sleeping bitcoins' minted between 2010 and 2017, each bitcoin with its unique history. However, transfers from 2009 were different.
At the time of writing, five sets of 49.99 BTC from these ancient rewards, each batch worth $3.1 million, are still being used in the newer Segwit address format. Although there are fewer rediscovered sleeping bitcoins in 2025, several notable transactions emerged this week.
On June 4, 2012, a wallet moved 42 BTC for the first time since its creation. Similarly, 102.08 BTC from January 5 was spent from an address that had been inactive since June 6, 2017. Additionally, 25 BTC was moved from a wallet established on October 27, 2011. The 2009 transactions highlight the mysterious existence of Bitcoin's early adopters and the evolving role of dormant wallets in the ecosystem.
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