• An early Bitcoin miner from 2009 ended a decade of inactivity and sent an additional 5 bitcoin to crypto exchange Kraken.
• There has been notable activity from Bitcoin wallets dating back to the Satoshi era in the past year, including a wallet that moved $16 million worth of BTC after 15 years of dormancy.
• Several “Satoshi era” bitcoin have been active in the past few years, with large amounts transferred to other wallets or exchanges, likely indicating selling.
An early Bitcoin miner from 2009 has recently ended over 10 years of inactivity by sending some of its holdings to crypto exchange Kraken. This wallet contains bitcoin mined just one month after the Bitcoin network first launched.
Details of the Bitcoin Whale’s Activity
The whale wallet holds bitcoin mined in 2009 and was active from 2011 to 2014, sending bitcoin to exchanges and other wallets. After 2014 there was no activity from this wallet for nearly a decade, during which time its holdings grew from around $474,000 to over $80 million in value.
Three weeks ago, the wallet started transferring bitcoin to Kraken again, making 10 BTC worth over $300,000 sent across three separate transactions so far. Sending large amounts of bitcoin to an exchange typically signals the intent to sell for fiat currency, stablecoins, or other cryptocurrencies.
Context of Other Early Miner Activity
This whale wallet coming back online follows some other notable activity from old Bitcoin addresses over the past year. In July 2023, a wallet dormant for 11 years moved $30 million worth of BTC to new wallets. Another wallet in August 2022 transferred 1,005 BTC after years of no transactions.
Last December, over 1,000 BTC from the Satoshi era were sent to exchanges and likely sold off – one of the largest amounts of early mined coins moved to exchanges in Bitcoin’s history. The Satoshi era refers to the earliest period of Bitcoin’s existence when its creator Satoshi Nakamoto was still regularly posting online between 2009-2011.
Conclusion
After many years of laying dormant, bitcoin wallets from the earliest days of the network are once again being used to transfer funds. Some long-time bitcoin holders seem to be selling off portions of their highly appreciated holdings. The recent activity highlights how much the perceived value of bitcoin has changed since its inception over a decade ago.
