‘Satoshi era’ Bitcoin moves after 15-year slumber, now worth $16M

Over 250 Bitcoin (BTC) mined in the early days of the network moved after laying dormant for 15 years.

According to big transaction tracking service Whale Alert, five 50 BTC transactions moved Bitcoin from the Satoshi era on Sept. 20.

The Bitcoins from these transactions have been dormant for 15.6 years, except the first transaction moving BTC 15.7 years old.

Satoshi era is an expression used to refer to the time when Bitcoin ‘s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active. From late 2009 until 2011, Nakamoto interacted with other users online, primarily on the BitcoinTalk forums.

The Bitcoin transferred in the aforementioned transactions is worth nearly $16 million at the time of writing. The transaction took place in European morning hours and the coins were moved to fresh wallets.

While so much Bitcoin this old moving all at once in equal batches may very well suggest that the same entity is behind all those transactions, it is so far unknown if that is the case. The wallets have also already started transferring the Bitcoin to a cryptocurrency exchange by the time of writing.

On-chain data shows that the coins in question were directly credited as block rewards for mining back in 2009 — only months after the network spurred to life. These wallets have been dormant since then.

The news follows a Bitcoin wallet that had been inactive for nearly 12 years, which was waking up to life, transferring 1,000 BTC (worth over $60 million) to a new address in July. Still, most of Bitcoin has long been inactive.

According to a late August report, around 74% of all Bitcoin has not moved for at least six months. This is particularly notable considering that BTC’s price has fallen 21% from its all-time high. This data shows that Bitcoin investors are increasingly holding on to their assets for longer and longer, not selling despite short-term drawdowns.

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