Satoshi-era wallet moves $16m worth of BTC mined in 2009

A long-dormant wallet that has been inactive since 2009 moved 250 BTC on September 20, offering a rare glimpse into a whale’s activities from the early days of desktop mining during Satoshi’s era.

The term “Satoshi era” Bitcoin (BTC) refers to the period between 2009 and 2011 when the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, was active in online forums.

At the time, Bitcoin was rarely talked about in mainstream media, never on Bloomberg as an Exchange Traded Fund. Yet much has changed since the early days of the cryptocurrency.

Fast forward 15 years, and on September 20, on-chain tracker Whale Alerts flagged the movement of 250 BTC worth approximately $16 million from a wallet that had been dormant since 2009. A rare glimpse into the movements of an original Bitcoin owner.

Five separate transactions, made in groups of 50 BTC, were sent to new addresses on the European morning.

According to on-chain data, these BTCs were mined as block rewards in the first weeks after the coin’s launch.

While Satoshi-era transfers are becoming increasingly rare, they are not all that unusual.

For example, in June of this year, a wallet that had been inactive for 14 years transferred $3 million worth of BTC to Binance. And surprisingly, in January 2024, someone sent back more than $1 million worth of BTC to the empty address of Bitcoin’s founder.