In an unprecedented on-chain event, more than $8 billion worth of Bitcoin from the earliest days of the network—commonly referred to as the “Satoshi era”—was moved on Friday in what is now the largest such transfer on record (CoinDesk).
According to CoinDesk, two wallets, dormant for over 14 years, each transferred 10,000 BTC to new addresses. These wallets initially received the coins on April 3, 2011, when Bitcoin was trading at just $0.78. At current prices, the BTC in each wallet is now valued at over $1.1 billion, reflecting a staggering 13.9 million percent gain.
The original source of these funds traces back to the historic wallet “1HqXB…gDwcK,” which in 2011 distributed 23,377.83 BTC to three separate wallets. Two of those—“12tLs…xj2me” and “1KbrS…AWJYm”—had remained untouched until this week, while the third spent its funds shortly after receiving them.
Later on Friday, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham flagged six additional wallets that moved a combined 10,000 BTC, bringing the total whale activity to over $8.6 billion in value. Arkham suspects the same entity may control all these addresses, though no individual or institution has publicly taken credit.
The BTC was transferred to fresh SegWit-compatible wallets—a modern, low-fee address format. As of Saturday (Asia time), none of the new wallets has moved the funds further, and the identity of the owner remains a mystery.
These coins belong to the rare class of “Satoshi-era BTC”—mined or transacted during Bitcoin’s early years (2009–2011), when its anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active. Since such wallets are rarely touched, any movement is seen as a potential market signal, possibly indicating early adopters or miners reconsidering their positions.
For traders and historians alike, this marks a significant moment in crypto’s timeline—stirring both speculation and curiosity.
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