Latest news with #SatoshiEra
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bitcoin investor moves $8 billion worth of crypto after 14 years, originally bought for less than $210,000 — 80,000 BTC transferred from dormant Satoshi-era wallet
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An ancient beast has suddenly risen from its slumber after lying dormant for 14 years. In the realm of crypto, such a beast is known as a whale—an early adopter of the blockchain holding massive amounts of currency. Whales are often closely monitored by the community due to their foresight; therefore, even the slightest activity can be read as a signal based on which the markets can shift. One of these whales, currently speculated to be Roger Ver, has moved 80,000 Bitcoin over the past 24 hours. That's more than $8.6 billion in regular people's money, made from an initial investment of less than $210,000 back in 2011. Doing the math, this mystery whale has achieved a hypothetical return of nearly 4 million percent over its initial purchase, or approximately 40,000 times the original amount. All of these Bitcoins are from the highly revered Satoshi era, the infancy period between 2009 and 2011, when the cryptocurrency was first introduced. Wallets from this time are from true believers of Bitcoin, people who invested in the radical idea of a decentralized financial system when a single coin wasn't even worth $1. So, you can imagine the delight on crypto bros' faces when someone decided to move a record-breaking amount of Bitcoin yesterday. The previous record for the largest single transaction in Bitcoin history was a mere 3,700 BTC, and a whopping 10,000 BTC has now surpassed it, moving at once. There was a total of eight wallets involved in this transaction, each containing the aforementioned 10K Bitcoin, and they're all owned by the same person, according to leading crypto analyst Arkham. The tide started around early Friday, when two wallets that had been inactive for 14 years suddenly transferred 10,000 BTC each to new addresses. These original wallets date back to April 3, 2011, when they initially received a large amount of Bitcoin. At the time, one Bitcoin was worth just 78 cents, so 10,000 BTC would be valued at $7,800. That chalks up to a nearly 14 million percent increase. Eight hours later, six more wallets from the same era—each containing 10,000 BTC—moved their holdings without any prior test transactions. These are from May 4, 2011, when Bitcoin had risen to $3.25. In total, these eight wallets make up 80,000 Bitcoin, the entire stash believed to have been held by the mysterious whale. Bitcoin is currently trading at $108,000, slightly down from its historic high of $110,000, which it had reached shortly before the transfers occurred. Interestingly, during our research, we came across a 2023 Reddit post that discussed six Bitcoin wallets, each holding 10,000 BTC, and speculated on their ownership. The curious OP floated names like the Winklevoss twins and even jokingly suggested this might be "Satoshi's inheritance to his children." These six wallets, dating back to May 4, 2011, are the very same ones involved in the historic transaction, which moved their Bitcoin just hours after the earlier set of wallets from April 2, 2011, made their move. Forget our mystery whale, Reddit user RealVoldermort was the one who saw the storm coming before it ever even brewed. The Mysterious 6 Wallets Holding 10k BTC each from r/CryptoCurrency Of course, no one knows where these Bitcoins went. Was it a sale? Was it inheritance, simply moving from a deceased investor to their heir? Perhaps, it was Roger Ver—one of the earliest investors of Bitcoin, who championed the currency around its creation more than a decade ago. At least, that's what @SaniExp on Twitter claims with "99%" assurance. Constituents around the world have interesting theories as to why such a transaction occurred on a random Friday without any prior indications. Believing that Roger Ver is our leading man, some speculate that he executed the "sale" as part of a potential plea deal with the U.S. government. Ver, currently residing in Spain, is wanted in the United States on tax fraud charges and, earlier this year, appealed to President Trump for a pardon to avoid extradition. Regardless of who is revealed to be the whale swimming in the ocean, it's safe to say that it has shaken the world of crypto and finance as a whole. The new wallets, now containing over $8 billion of Bitcoin, have had no further movements since, and the true identity of our new owner remains unknown. We will update the story with more details if anything valuable surfaces. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
$8B BTC Movements May Have Been Preceded by Covert Bitcoin Cash Test
Movements of bitcoin cash (BCH) took place amid the mysterious transfers of $8.5 billion worth of 'Satoshi-era' bitcoin late Friday. Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase, flagged a suspicious BCH transaction of over 10,000 tokens (worth nearly $5 million at current prices) tied to one of the whale wallets hours before the main transfers began. The move raised the possibility that someone may have gained access to legacy private keys and quietly tested them before initiating the massive BTC movements. 'There is a possibility that the owner was testing the private key in a way that wouldn't get noticed,' Grogan posted on X. 'BCH isn't monitored heavily by whale-watching services.' Eight wallets that had been dormant since 2011 each transferred 10,000 BTC to new SegWit addresses on Friday, over 14 years after initially receiving bitcoin in what is now colloquially known as the network's 'Satoshi era.'None of the wallets have, so far, been linked to any known entity or company, but the timing, scale, and manual nature of the transfers have set off alarm bells. Grogan pointed out that only one BCH address associated with the BTC cluster was touched. 'Why not sweep the others?' he asked. 'It implies the actor may not have full access.' But the timing is uncanny: just one hour after the BCH test transfer, the first of the 80,000 BTC started to move — triggering the largest Satoshi-era bitcoin movements ever recorded. So far, the new bitcoin addresses haven't forwarded funds further or deposited them on exchanges. But the BCH test could indicate someone was probing before executing a coordinated transfer, possibly to avoid triggering whale alerts or spooking the market. Other theories extend from a private key leak to even a quantum computing attack. Bitcoin's early addresses, especially Pay‑to‑Public‑Key (P2PK) formats, expose public keys after their first transaction — once available, they become theoretically crackable using Shor's algorithm if large-scale quantum hardware materializes. (Dormant wallets that have never revealed their public key are safe even in a quantum future as no public key exists to reverse-engineer.) As such, the fact that only one associated BCH wallet moved during testing while the others remained untouched suggests limited access. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eight Bitcoin Wallets Move 80,000 BTC in Largest Ever ‘Satoshi Era' Transfers
More than $8 billion worth of bitcoin mined during the network's earliest days — colloquially known as the 'Satoshi era' — were moved Friday in the largest such transfer on record. Two wallets that had remained dormant for over 14 years each transferred 10,000 BTC to new addresses around early Friday, as CoinDesk reported. The two addresses had initially received their coins on April 3, 2011, when bitcoin traded at just 78 cents. That BTC is now worth over $1.1 billion per wallet at current prices, marking an appreciation of more than 13.9 million percent. The original source of the coins was wallet '1HqXB…gDwcK,' which sent 23,377.83 BTC to three separate wallets in 2011. Two of those — '12tLs…xj2me' and '1KbrS…AWJYm' — held the bulk until this week. The third wallet, which received 3,377 BTC, had already spent its funds in 2011. Late Friday, on-chain analysis firm Arkham flagged that six other wallets moved over 10,000 bitcoin (BTC) in quick succession, worth over $8.6 billion at current prices. The same entity apparently owns all of these wallets, Akrham said. However, no individual or company has publicly claimed ownership of these wallets as of Asian morning hours on Saturday. The transferred BTC was sent to fresh wallets using a modern, lower-fee address format. Neither of the new wallets has since moved the funds further, and the identity of the wallet owner remains unknown. All of these moved coins are among the rarest class of BTC: mined or transacted during the 'Satoshi era,' a loosely defined period from bitcoin's launch in 2009 through 2011, when its pseudonymous creator was still active online. Wallets from this time are considered part of crypto's holy grail — rarely moved and often watched closely by traders for market signals, as any large sales could be perceived as an early believer or miner changing their stance on the market. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
