Several huge Bitcoin transactions are currently keeping the crypto world busy: as was announced on Saturday morning, a total of 80,000 Bitcoins were moved from eight wallets to new addresses. Some bitcoins had been in the old wallets for around 14 years. At that time, the price was in the cent range; today it corresponds to around eight billion US dollars. Nothing more is known about the owner or the background to the transactions.
Arkham, an analysis platform for cryptocurrencies, provided information about the Bitcoin movements on Friday evening. According to the report, 10,000 bitcoins with a value of around one billion US dollars each were transferred to new wallets eight times. All transactions came from the same sender, but nothing else is known about their identity.
Bitcoins from the early era
The affected bitcoins themselves date back to the so-called Satoshi era. The name refers to the rough period between 2009 and 2011, the early days of Bitcoin, when its inventor, known only by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active in the crypto scene himself. Some tokens from the transactions were transferred directly into the wallet from which they were now being transferred after mining – the production, so to speak. At that time, bitcoins were still available at prices in the cent range.
The little that is known about the background to the transactions has led to even more speculation. The new wallets of the transferred bitcoins use a modern address format. Some observers therefore believe that the large Bitcoin holder concerned decided to move his assets. However, theories also range from Nakamoto as the owner of the bitcoins to cyber criminals who have gained control of the wallets.
This would not be the first billion-dollar coup of its kind. In the biggest crypto theft to date, attackers managed to siphon off cryptocurrency worth around 1.4 billion US dollars.
(nen)