Across a series of transactions, a total of $30 million worth of bitcoin that had been dormant since 2010 has started moving on the blockchain, with its destination currently being unknown. The move marks the fourth time Satoshi-era BTC moved so far this year.
The transaction was first spotted by crypto trader Kirill Kretov on LinkedIn, and first reported on by Decrypt. The first transaction came late last week, when 50 BTC worth over $700,000 were moved to a single address. This week an additional 50 BTC were moved before a total of 40 wallets moved a total of 2,000 BTC to two consolidating addresses.
From there, blockchain data shows the funds were split into hundreds of addresses. Who is behind the transactions was an early bitcoin miner, as the 50 BTC contained in each address are coinbase rewards from blocks found a decade ago.
The funds are from the so-called Satoshi-era, referring to the time in which the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active in the cryptocurrency community. Nakamoto disappeared in late 2010, and his identity isn’t known.
While the funds were mined by someone who was active at the time Satoshi Nakamoto was active, it isn’t likely the funds belong to Nakamoto himself. The first mining pool, Slush Pool, was launched in November 2010, which could mean dozens to hundreds of miners were active then.
As CryptoGlobe reported, another 1,050 BTC worth over $11.8 million mined back in 2010 were moved again last month. Part of funds, 9.99 BTC, were donated to the Free Software Foundation (FSF), while another 9.,99 went to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). It’s unclear whether any of the funds were moved to crypto exchanges.
Featured image via Pixabay.
