Thomas Daniels
A Bitcoin wallet that mined coins during the cryptocurrency’s earliest days has become active again after over a decade of dormancy. On September 24, blockchain analytics firm Arkham flagged a significant Bitcoin whale wallet, which had mined BTC in February and March of 2009—just months after Bitcoin’s launch when its value was virtually zero.
The wallet, inactive for many years after its initial transactions, transferred five bitcoins to the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, signaling renewed activity. This wallet, belonging to a miner from the so-called Satoshi-era, holds historical significance as it dates back to a time when Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active within the network.
$474K Grows to Over $80 Million
According to Arkham, the whale’s wallet still contains 1,215 BTC, currently valued at over $77 million. When the wallet last moved coins in 2014, the total value of its holdings was just $474,000. The tremendous appreciation of Bitcoin over the past decade has driven this value to around $80 million today.
Interestingly, the wallet has seen multiple transactions over the past three weeks, with 10 BTC transferred to Kraken across three separate transactions, drawing attention from the crypto community.
Satoshi-Era Wallets Continue to Reactivate
This incident follows a series of reactivations of early Bitcoin wallets. Last week, another wallet from the Satoshi era, dormant for over 15 years, transferred approximately $16 million in BTC. Similarly, in August 2024, a Bitcoin wallet inactive since 2014 moved over $10 million, while in June, a 2010 wallet transferred $3 million to Binance. These movements from long-dormant wallets often intrigue the market, stirring speculation about the original miners and their motivations.
