'Satoshi Era' Wallets Move $16M in Bitcoin After 15 Years of Dormancy

• Over 250 BTC from the early days of bitcoin, known as the "Satoshi era," were transferred on Friday in five separate transactions, each moving 50 BTC to new wallets, with a total value close to $13 million.
• As of press time, there hasn’t been any movement from the new wallets to crypto exchanges.
• This movement adds to previous instances where dormant bitcoin from the Satoshi era, including significant transactions in July and December last year.

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.

💤 A dormant address containing 50 #BTC (3,184,108 USD) has just been activated after 15.7 years!https://t.co/jduMfplXag

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) September 20, 2024

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.