During 2023, several Satoshi-era Bitcoin wallets have risen from dormancy to transfer their BTC to a new address.
Three Satoshi-era Bitcoin (BTC) whale addresses that have been dormant since November 2017 transferred 6,500 BTC, worth roughly $230 million, on Nov. 2. Satoshi-era BTC refers to the very early stages of the Bitcoin network when it was still relatively unknown.
According to data from BitInfoCharts, the first wallet moved 2,550 BTC, estimated to be worth $90 million. A second address moved around 2,000 BTC worth $71 million, and the third address transferred around 1,950 BTC worth $69 million.
All three wallets had another thing in common: the last transaction from each came almost six years ago, on Nov. 5, 2017. Thus, these wallets slept through the Bitcoin bull run and the all-time high of over $69,000. Most of the Bitcoin in the three whale wallets dates back to July 2011 and is linked to F2Pool — a Bitcoin mining pool — suggesting it may have been accumulated via early Bitcoin mining. The three wallets held BTC when it traded under $15.
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Whether all three wallets belong to the same individual or entity is not confirmed, though the wallet history and transaction patterns suggest that could be the case. The recent movement of Bitcoin whale addresses containing Bitcoin from the 2011 era comes just days after the BTC price touched a new yearly high above $35,000.
2023 has seen several Bitcoin whales and addresses more than 10 years old rising from dormancy, transferring BTC to new addresses. Earlier in July, a wallet dormant for 11 years transferred $30 million in BTC, and a month later, in August, a Saotshi-era wallet transferred 1,005 BTC to a new address.
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