More than $8 billion worth of Bitcoin mined during the cryptocurrency’s earliest days, known as the “Satoshi era,” was transferred on Friday in the largest such transfer ever recorded.
Eight wallets that had been dormant since 2011 moved 10,000 BTC to new SegWit addresses on Friday, more than 14 years after receiving the BTC. The identity of the wallets is unknown, including their ownership.
The incident has caused speculation and curiosity in the crypto community. Coinbase director Conor Grogan, who goes by “Connor” on X, has recently reacted to a rumor surrounding one of the mysterious addresses that had shifted 10,000 Bitcoin.
An X user claimed that one of the wallets that moved 10,000 BTC (worth over $1 billion) was mentioned on a forum in 2013. The user even posted a screenshot of the old forum post, alleging that someone had once sent 1.5 BTC to a friend using the same wallet address.
Grogan, however, was quick to respond, calling the claim fake. “Guy made it up,” Grogan posted on X. “There was never a 1.5 BTC transaction to or from the address.”
The Coinbase director shared a screenshot of blockchain data that supports this assertion, indicating that no such transaction ever occurred with the address.
New update emerges
On Friday, eight Bitcoin wallets shifted 10,000 BTC each, for a total of 80,000 BTC, or $8.6 billion, drawing attention from the crypto community. The moved coins belong to the rarest class of BTC: mined or transacted during the “Satoshi era,” which lasted from the launch of Bitcoin in 2009 to 2011, when its pseudonymous founder was still active online.
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On-chain intelligence platform, Arkham, speculated that all the wallets appear to be owned by the same entity. However, no individual or company has publicly claimed possession of the wallets.
Arkham recently tweeted an update on the situation, putting to rest speculation that a Bitcoin OG whale was selling; “$8 billion transfers were possibly related to address upgrades, moving from 1- addresses to bc1q-addresses. There are no indications that this whale is selling Bitcoin,” Arkham stated.