A Bitcoin wallet that had not been used since 2011 suddenly became active this Thursday. It first sent a small test amount of 0.0018 BTC, then moved all of its 3,962 BTC worth about $468 million to a new wallet.
This wallet received all its Bitcoin in January of 2011, when one BTC was only 37 cents. At that time, the overall value of the wallet was just about $1,450. For more than 14 years, nothing went out of it, and most people believed the coins were gone forever. The unexpected movement this week has awakened the crypto community’s interest.
This is not the only ancient wallet to come alive recently. On July 23, a vintage user transferred over 10,600 BTC, currently valued at over $1.2 billion. According to research tool lookonchain another wallet has transferred in excess of 40,000 BTC this month alone, of which some was transferred to Galaxy Digital for safe storage.
These big transactions have sparked numerous speculations. Some believe that the owners are selling their coins now that the price is up. Others ask themselves who these individuals are and some even propose that the Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is behind this.
Coinbase’s Conor Grogan explained one of these wallets probably belongs to an individual who mined Bitcoin when it was new. It was easier to mine back then, and individuals received 50 BTC as a block reward much more often than today’s 3.125 BTC.
Despite such significant movements, Bitcoin’s price remained close to $118,500 throughout the day, while the broader market was quiet.