From 0 to $63k: Satoshi-era wallet moves $16m worth of BTC mined in 2009

A long-dormant wallet, inactive since 2009, moved 250 BTC on Sept. 20, offering a rare look into the activities of a whale from the earliest days of Satoshi-era mining on desktop computers.

The transfer of “Satoshi era” Bitcoin (BTC) refer to the period when Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was actively engaging on online forums between 2009 and 2011.

During that time, Bitcoin was seldom spoken of in the mainstream media, much less on Bloomberg as Exchange Traded Funds. Yet a lot has changed since the early days of cryptocurrency.

Fast forward over 15 years and, on Sept. 20, the on-chain tracker Whale Alerts has flagged the movement of 250 BTC—valued at nearly $16 million—from a wallet that has been dormant since 2009. A rare glimpse into the movements of an original Bitcoin holder.

During the European morning, five separate transactions carried out in batches of 50 BTC were sent to new addresses.

According to on-chain data, these BTC were mined as block rewards during the earliest weeks of the cryptocurrency’s release.

While Satoshi era transfers are becoming increasingly rare, they aren’t necessarily uncommon.

In June of this year, for example, a wallet inactive for 14 years transferred $3 million in BTC to Binance. And, puzzlingly, in Jan. 2024, someone event sent back over $1 million in BTC to the null address of Bitcoin’s founder.