50 Bitcoins, equivalent to $3.3 million, which had remained untouched for nearly 14 years, were transferred earlier today, sparking speculation within the cryptocurrency community.
Bitcoin Miner Made $3.3 Million BTC Transfer After 14 Years of Rest
The transaction, observed by onchain analysts at Lookonchain, originated from Bitcoins mined in April 2010, when the mining reward per block was 50 BTC. This is in stark contrast to the current reward of just over 6 BTC, which will drop further in the near future.
Of the total amount, 17 BTC, worth approximately $1.1 million, were transferred to a wallet known to have regular outflows, possibly indicating its affiliation with an exchange.
The Bitcoin was then combined with funds from other wallets specifically tagged as Coinbase on blockchain intelligence platform Arkham before being transferred to another address, indicating a potential deposit to an exchange.
The remaining 33 BTC, worth approximately $2.2 million, were directed to a new wallet with no previous activity. It is conceivable that these Bitcoins actually remain the property of the miner but are moved to a new address within the same wallet structure.
This process is a result of the Bitcoin blockchain's protocol, which enforces the movement of all funds within a wallet during each transaction, often requiring the creation of new addresses.
This latest transfer follows the old trend of Bitcoin movements observed in the cryptocurrency space. On March 23, the fifth richest Bitcoin address at the time sent $6 billion worth of Bitcoins to three new addresses.
Additionally, a Bitcoin wallet that had been dormant for nearly 12 years had its entire balance of 500 BTC transferred to a new address, worth just under $35 million at the time.
*This is not investment advice.