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Satoshi-era Bitcoin Wallet Reactivated After Over 12 Years

Digital Investment - Posted on April 08, 2022 5 minute read

According to blockchain tracker Whale Alert (@whale_alert), an old wallet containing 50 BTC (Bitcoin) has been activated for the first time after almost 12 years of inactivity.

The Bitcoin block in question was mined on November 22, 2009, just a few months after the first Bitcoin transaction took place in January 2009. At that time, Bitcoin was worth nothing at all, as there were no exchanges at the time. The earliest Bitcoin adopters would send Bitcoins just as a hobby without expecting to make much money from it.

The wallet was created even before programmer Laszlo Hanyecz became famous for spending 10,000 BTC ($436.65 million in current value) on two pizzas in May 2010.

Bitcoin finally reached parity with the US dollar only on February 8, 2011. And at the Bitcoin exchange rate at the time of this report (04/08/2022), whoever received the coins would have received a fortune of $2.1 million.

Although the address was created during the era of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin who is allegedly still active in the community, he is unlikely to be behind the transfer.

The most plausible explanation is that someone finally found his “private key” to the multi-million dollar Bitcoin stash. Some also speculate that the owner of the address reactivated the wallet after getting out of prison.

In May 2020, the price of Bitcoin fell after Whale Alert reported that Bitcoin from a wallet allegedly belonging to Satoshi was showing signs of life again. However, it later turned out that the transfer was not related to the creator of Bitcoin.