Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Whale Stuns Bitstamp With Massive BTC Transfer

U.Today - According to Arkham Intelligence, an ancient Bitcoin wallet with a massive $3 million BTC stockpile has reawakened after several years of dormancy, transferring part of its holdings to major crypto exchange Bitstamp.

In a tweet, Arkham Intelligence drew attention to the awakening of a 13-year-old whale with $3.17 million BTC in mid-2011. This is in line with Whale Alert reporting that "a dormant address containing 50 BTC worth $3,173,594 has just been activated after 13.3 years."

This wallet, Akrham Intelligence says, has not made a single move since receiving the coins 13 years ago. Following its reactivation, the Bitcoin wallet sent 20 BTC worth $1.27 million to Bitstamp.

Old Bitcoins on move

In another similar occurrence reported by Arkham Intelligence, a Bitcoin whale with $77 million BTC mined in Bitcoin's first two months recently transferred 5 BTC to Kraken. These wallets date back to the "Satoshi era," when Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was active on public forums between late 2009 and 2011.

Arkham Intelligence estimates that this whale still possesses 1,215 BTC worth $77 million. According to his address, the Bitcoin stockpile was mined in February and March of 2009, about two months after Bitcoin's launch.

After moving several times from 2011-2014, the Bitcoin in the wallet was then held dormant for nearly 10 years, during which it increased in value from $474,000 to over $80 million. This whale awakened around three weeks ago and has moved 10 Bitcoins to Kraken so far in three separate transactions.

This comes just a few days after another early Bitcoin whale, who mined their Bitcoin around the same time, woke up after 15 years of dormancy to move $16 million of BTC, prompting the question as to why these early Bitcoin whale wallets are suddenly waking up.

This article was originally published on U.Today