On November 7th at 12:37 am EST, observers on the Bitcoin Blockchain noted that a number of Bitcoins were moved from a wallet that had not been moved since 2010. According to researchers from Btcparser.com, around 1000 ‘sleeping Bitcoins’, totalling roughly $15.5 million, were sent in a single transaction.
The BTC’s owner also sent the corresponding BCH, which was worth about $250,000. However, the sender did not touch the BSV associated with the coins.
2020: Year of the Zombie Coins
After the main transaction was sent to a single address, the receiving address sent portions of the stockpile to a number of other addresses.
It is estimated that there are roughly 1.5 to 1.8 million Bitcoins that are considered to be ‘sleeping’ or ‘zombie coins’ from the Satoshi era, meaning that they were last active during the time when Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto was active in the space.
via news.Bitcoin.com: "researchers at Btcparser.com discovered another string of 20 coinbase rewards from 2010 were transferred on Saturday morning around 12:37 a.m. EST. Out of the 20 blocks each block contained 50 bitcoins worth over $777,000 using today’s exchange rates."
This most recent movement of ‘zombie coins’ is just one in a number of similar instances that have taken place this year.
For example, on March 11th, Bitcoin.com reported that a block reward earned in 2010 worth 1,050 BTC had been transferred, alongside the corresponding BCH and BSV. 151 days later, another block reward was moved on October 11, along with the corresponding BCH.
Since then, at least four more block rewards from 2010 have been sent for the first time in 10 years; on October 17th, 25th, 29th, and November 1st, approximately 200 BTC from 2010 was transferred. news.Bitcoin.com says that over the past several weeks, approximately 80 block rewards from 2010 have been moved; the total value of the coins was worth more than $62 million at press time.
It is unclear who controls the coins, why the coins are suddenly being moved after ten years, or if they are being sold to other Bitcoin hodlers. However, Bitcoin’s bullish movement past $15,500 last week could indicate that whoever is in charge of the coins could be preparing to sell them if the rally continues.
