Hundreds of bitcoin (BTC) acquired by mining them during the network’s early stages were moved on Friday – joining the rare instances where bitcoin from the so-termed “Satoshi era” have been active.
Satoshi era refers commonly to the period when bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was active on online forums from late 2009 to 2011.
Over 250 BTC from that period, worth nearly $16 million at current prices, were moved within an hour during the European morning hours, on-chain tracker Whale Alerts flagged on X. Each transaction was a batch of 50 BTC with the tokens being moved to new wallets.
It is unclear if all these wallets belong to the same person or entity. There hasn’t been a movement from the new wallets to crypto exchanges as of press time.
Blockchain data shows these bitcoin were received as a block reward in 2009, just months after the network started. These wallets have shown no activity since then except for the movement on Friday.
Several ‘Satoshi era’ bitcoin have been active in the past few years. In July 2023, a wallet dormant for 11 years transferred $30 million worth of the asset to other wallets, while in August, another wallet transferred 1,005 BTC to a new address.
In December last year, over 1,000 BTC were sent to crypto exchanges - where they were likely sold off - marking one of the largest amounts from the Satoshi era moved to exchanges.
