A Bitcoin (BTC) whale from the network’s earliest months is sending more of its holdings to crypto exchange Kraken after 15 years of dormancy. The whale, a colloquial term for entities holding a huge amount of Bitcoin, holds BTC mined just one month after the network went live in 2009.
Ancient Whale Moves $3.58 Million BTC After 15 Years
An early Bitcoin miner from 2009 has just transferred a large chunk of its stash to a cryptocurrency exchange after over a decade of inactivity, data from on-chain tool Arkham shows.
Arkham noted that the whale moved almost $3.6 million worth of Bitcoin to Kraken. The Bitcoin in question was mined only one month after Bitcoin’s debut when the “genesis” block was mined by Bitcoin’s enigmatic inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Arkham said in a previous post that the whale moved BTC multiple times from 2011 to 2014 to other wallets or exchanges, after which there was no activity on the wallet for ten years.
ANCIENT BITCOIN WHALE JUST SENT BTC TO KRAKENA Bitcoin whale holding $77M BTC mined in Bitcoin’s FIRST 2 MONTHS just moved 5 BTC to Kraken.In his address this whale still holds 1215 BTC ($77M).His Bitcoin had been mined in 2009, in February and March – 1 MONTH after… pic.twitter.com/ZNo93P4AbQ
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 24, 2024
They again moved 10 Bitcoins—worth $610,000—to Kraken on Oct. 3. According to Arkham data, the mysterious whale currently holds 1,169 Bitcoins, valued at around $72.8 million at current prices.
Whales like the one highlighted by Arkham sit on enormous profits: the value of the Bitcoin held by this specific holder has increased by over 16,750% within a 10-year period.
The latest transfer comes amid renewed speculation over Satoshi’s true identity. HBO is set to release the “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” documentary on Tuesday, which the producers claim will unveil who actually created the largest and oldest cryptocurrency by market cap. Such a revelation would undoubtedly put an end to an enigma as old as Bitcoin itself.
Many believe the film will name deceased computer programmer and cypherpunk Len Sassaman as Satoshi. Sassaman committed suicide in 2011 — shortly after Satoshi stopped posting on BTCTalk and revealed they had “moved on to other things.”
CoinGecko shows that Bitcoin’s price is now hovering at $62,296. The asset is up 0.6% on the day.
