Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Whale Selling After 10 Years—But Still Holds $72 Million

How's this for a “HODL”: An ancient Bitcoin whale who received their coins back in 2009 is finally selling—after having not touched the stash for 10 years. 

Blockchain data firm Arkham Intelligence has been tracking the “diamond hands” investor, who last moved their coins back in 2014 ahead of the latest batch of transactions.

Since then, the Bitcoin sat gathering dust—until last month, when the mysterious holder started moving coins to American crypto exchange Kraken. 

Then, last week, the whale moved less than $1 million in Bitcoin to the exchange, and has continued to make moves to other wallets since then, including over the last day. According to Arkham, the whale has sold $10.5 million, but still has $72 million (1,064 Bitcoin) sitting in their wallet. 

The investment in question includes “Satoshi-era” coins—Bitcoin that became available just after the network went live in 2009 after the pseudonymous creator of the cryptocurrency Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block.

A Bitcoin whale is the term given to cryptocurrency investors who hoard huge amounts of digital coins, and don’t touch them for years. It’s not clear from blockchain data whether such “HODLers” are individuals or companies, though given the age of the coins back to the earliest days of Bitcoin, it’s most likely an individual in this case.

Such movements—especially if the whale is a well-known entity—can lead to the price of Bitcoin dipping as industry observers and traders expect selling action. 

Bitcoin’s price hasn’t dipped today, though, and is currently trading for $68,075 after jumping more than 2% in 24 hours.

Edited by Andrew Hayward