Cointelegraph by Stephen Katte
A “Satoshi-era” Bitcoin wallet with $442 million worth of BTC has become the latest sleeping Bitcoin giant to wake, shifting some of its funds for the first time in 14 years.
The unknown owner of the wallet made most of its stash mining 4,000 Bitcoin (BTC) between April and June 2009, only a few months after the first blockchain network went live, Whale Alert said in an X post on Thursday.
Data from the onchain analytics platform Nansen shows the whale sent 150 Bitcoin, worth over $16 million, in a single transaction on Thursday.
On-chain data from the Bitcoin blockchain explorer and analytics platform memepool space suggests the whale may have once held 7,850 Bitcoin, and was last active in June 2011 when it consolidated 4,000 Bitcoin into one wallet.
Bitcoin is trading at roughly $110,604 on Friday, which would make the whales’ entire stash worth over $442 million. It was worth $194 in 2010 when CoinMarketCap started tracking the price of Bitcoin in July of that year.
Whale might have had more Bitcoin
Another X user, Emmett Gallic, a self-employed blockchain analyst, said the whale once held 8,000 Bitcoin across multiple wallets and has been steadily selling off its holdings in another address “for years.”
“A Whale that once held 8,000 BTC activated a new wallet from the Satoshi Era of Bitcoin. He has been steadily selling now down to 3850 BTC after moving 150 BTC today. God Level DCA Strat,” he said.
Memepool space shows the whale address has received a total of 7,850 Bitcoin; the balance shows up as 3,850 BTC after the recent transfer of 150 coins.
OG whales on the move
Another Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale with 80,201 tokens started shifting its holdings to Galaxy Digital after being dormant for 14 years in July, making a final transfer on July 16.
Related: Bitcoin whale who held for 7 years sells $76M to go long on Ether
Crypto analyst Willy Woo stated in June that whales with more than 10,000 Bitcoin have been steadily selling since 2017, responding to an X user’s question about who has been selling amid heightened interest from institutions.
Traders sometimes interpret the awakening of old whales as a sign that early holders are considering selling their holdings but analysts told Cointelegraph in August that OG Bitcoiners selling their holdings is nothing to worry about because new buyers are jumping in, which is a good sign of a maturing market.
Magazine: Mysterious Mr Nakamoto author: Finding Satoshi would hurt Bitcoin
