By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 24th, 2024
Sunday’s transfer is not the first time an inactive Bitcoin stash moved. However, when these old wallets were created, Bitcoin did not really have a significant value. When the coin was created, it was worthless.
On Sunday, September 19, Bitcoin (BTC) stash that has been inactive for nine years moved to a different wallet. Its owner transferred all of its 616 Bitcoins to new storage at 05:50 UTC.
According to blockchain explorer Blockchain.com, there has been 616.2004 BTC since December 12, 2012. Back then, Bitcoin was not the top crypto, its price was about $13.30, which means that the entire transaction was worth about $8,195. However, today, with crypto adoption growing and Bitcoin trading at $45,437 as of the press moment, the total value of the stash makes up around $30 million.
By the way, this is a strong reminder of the glories of investing. Within nine years, the gain has totaled as much as 358,655 percent.
Obviously, at that time, 9 years ago, investors had no idea about how the price of digital currency could spike. As the data from Blockchain.com show, over this 9-year period, the value of the pot has grown by 0.00001 Bitcoin through 21 intermittent transactions of negligible quantities that went into the wallet over the course of the twelve years. In other words, the owner of the waller has also made 47 cents.
Earlier this year, a wallet with $5 million in Bitcoin came online again after being inactive since June 2010. Last year, a wallet with Bitcoin mined in February 2009 cashed out to the tune of $500,000. In particular, 50 Bitcoin, worth $500,000, was moved and split up into two addresses in one transaction. At that time, there were rumors that the transaction had something to do with Bitcoin’s enigmatic creator Satoshi Nakomoto.
“Lost” Bitcoins
Sunday’s transfer is not the first time an inactive Bitcoin stash moved. However, when these old wallets were created, Bitcoin did not really have a significant value. When the coin was created, it was worthless.
Back in December 2020, market analysis firm Glassnode said that about 3 million Bitcoin is “lost forever”. That is about $147 billion. But if that Bitcoin should suddenly wake up, that would send shockwaves through a market that had already priced in its loss.
Not all the old wallets come online again. However, some of them are really noteworthy because they still hold a lot of money. As a result, the owners of these old traders, many of whom invested mere pennies in the early 2010s, can use a chance to cash out small fortunes and exert a significant influence over the market.