An old Bitcoin wallet has sparked controversy after it moved for the first time in over a decade, at a time believed to be around the time of Satoshi Nakamoto 🧑💻, the creator of Bitcoin. According to a report from Chainalysis 📊, there are about 1.75 million Bitcoin wallets that have been dormant for over a decade.
In a dramatic incident on May 6 🗓️, a wallet holding 687 BTC 💰 (worth $43.9 million) transferred its funds to two new addresses. 625.43 BTC was transferred to an address starting with bc1qky, while the remaining amount (61.9 BTC) was sent to another address starting with bc1qdc.
The importance and curiosity about the "Satoshi" era 🤔✨
Old wallet movements, especially those associated with the Satoshi era 🔗, are of great interest in the cryptocurrency community. This era refers to the early days of Bitcoin when its anonymous creator Nakamoto was actively participating in technical discussions on the internet 🖥️.
Often, some of these wallets are believed to belong to Nakamoto himself or to early miners and investors who participated in building the coin's ecosystem 🌐.
In August 2023 🕶️, the community witnessed a similar situation when another wallet containing 1,005 Bitcoin moved after a 14-year hibernation. As always, this movement sparked speculation about its connection to Satoshi, but experts suggest that the wallets may have been owned by miners or early investors looking to make a profit 📈.
Statistics on dormant portfolios 💾💎
Fortune reports that around 1.75 million Bitcoin wallets have been inactive for over a decade 📉. These wallets hold around 1,798,681 Bitcoin, currently worth around $121 billion 💵, even though they were purchased at a time when Bitcoin was trading at very low prices, in the single digits 🪙.
The appearance and movement of these old wallets remains rare, which raises widespread curiosity and questions about their owners and their motives for moving after all these years. 🔍
