In the early days, Satoshi created Bitcoin, and it was great… but it wasn't used.
This becomes even more bizarre when an individual who mined a large amount of Bitcoin just a month after its creation decided to transfer a large portion of those Bitcoins to a cryptocurrency exchange, after not touching them for more than a decade.
An “ancient” Bitcoin whale, first identified by cryptocurrency analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, has moved nearly $3.6 million worth of Bitcoin to the Kraken exchange, according to blockchain data.
The mysterious holder now owns more than 1,189 Bitcoins, worth nearly $77 million at current prices. Arkham discovered the whale on X when it began moving Bitcoins to Kraken last month after 10 years of inactivity.
On Thursday, they continued to transfer another 5 BTC to the exchange, according to information from Arkham. Kraken is one of the largest exchanges in the US.
These coins were mined during what is known as Bitcoin's “Satoshi era,” shortly after the network was activated in January 2009, when the first “genesis” block was mined by Bitcoin's founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.
In cryptocurrency parlance, “whales” refer to individuals or organizations that hold huge amounts of Bitcoin. Typically, these investors do not move their cryptocurrency for years.
Whales like the one Arkham mentioned today are holding huge profits: the value of this holder's Bitcoin has increased by more than 16,700% over the course of 10 years.
Large whale moves can be concerning for investors, as they often understand that the holder may be about to make a trade to take profit. Bitcoin is still considered an illiquid market by traditional financial standards, and a large sell-off of the cryptocurrency could put significant downward pressure on the price of Bitcoin.
But it is also possible that this investor took profit to buy villas and supercars to enjoy life.
