A Bitcoin wallet first opened in 2009 has suddenly cashed out. 50 BTC was moved in one transaction, leading many to speculate on the owner’s origins, with some suggesting it could be Satoshi Nakamoto.
The cryptocurrency community went pretty crazy today as it was revealed that 50 BTC that was mined back in February 2009 was just moved to another address.
So, who did that and what could it mean?
Data from Glassnode has revealed that an unspent output from bitcoin transactions (UTXO) older than a decade was just spent on-chain. This means that some of the earliest mined Bitcoin is now back in the traffic. However, it is impossible to know who moved it and with what purpose. The crypto community is speculating as crazy.
Satoshi Is Back to Move His BTC from 2009?
Some say that it is the one and only Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator, or someone close to Satoshi who was involved in the project early on.
The UTXO dates all the way back to February 9th, 2009, just one month following the creation of Bitcoin. WhalePanda, a Bitcoin investor and researcher, says there were multiple miners back in 2009 as well, and the address is not a known Satoshi address.
11 year old coins (mined in February 2009) just moved.
This does not happen often. pic.twitter.com/PSEvyWyxVo— WhalePanda (@WhalePanda) May 20, 2020
Just for the record: this is not a known Satoshi address or anything. There were multiple miners even back then.
Finney’s Family, Szabo or Dai?
That may have some basis, you know. Let’s just remind you that in January 2009, the first Bitcoin transaction was made. On January 12, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent 50 BTC to Hal Finney in block 170. The cost of the transaction, like so many in the early days, was 0 BTC.
Except for Finney, there weren’t that many people involved with the cryptocurrency. Some of them include Nick Szabo and Wei Dai. Though Finney passed away almost 6 years ago, there can be a chance that his family may have access to wallets.
When the Bitcoin was mined, on February 9, 2009, it was practically worthless. Bitcoin didn’t really have a value until Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin on May 22, worth around $20 at the time, giving it an approximate value of $0.002. On October 5 that year, the exchange rate was first announced at 1 USD to 1,309.03 BTC – putting its value at $0.0007.
That Bitcoin is now worth $488,400 at a current Bitcoin price of $9,768.
Crypto Community Is Watching
However, even though anything can be true nowadays, probably it wasn’t Satoshi who moved these coins. Wallets associated with Satoshi’s estimated 1 million BTC supply are watched closely and aren’t related to the wallet in question. However, that doesn’t have to mean that this couldn’t be someone from his circle of friends or at least someone close to him.
However, we have to admit that it is utterly unusual that this owner of that many years suddenly decided to move their BTC as more and more Bitcoin investors are beginning to hold for the long term.
There is a certain possibility though, that the BTC is being mobilized in order to be sold. One thing is certain. Crypto space will be for sure monitoring each and every blockchain transaction closely and putting them under a microscope hoping to make sense out of the unnatural transaction. Also, there is a possibility that someone found an old wallet. This wouldn’t be the first time though. In March, a Bitcoin miner stumbled on one of his old wallets, which contained 1,000 Bitcoin, worth $8 million at the time.
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