Market Watch

Ancient’ Bitcoin Whale Who Mined Millions Just After Genesis Moves BTC to Exchange

In the beginning, Satoshi created Bitcoin, and it was good… but nobody used it. That’s why it’s especially strange that someone who mined a huge stash of Bitcoin only one month after it was created just moved a large chunk of it to a crypto exchange, after not having touched it for over a decade.

The “ancient” Bitcoin whale, first identified by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, moved nearly $3.6 million worth of Bitcoin to crypto exchange Kraken, according to blockchain data.  The mysterious holder has over 1,189 Bitcoins worth close to $77 million at today’s prices, according to Arkham.

Arkham first pointed out the whale on X (formerly Twitter) when the whale started moving their Bitcoin to Kraken last month after leaving it idle for 10 years. They again on Thursday sent another chunk of five Bitcoins to the exchange, Arkham said. Kraken is one of America’s biggest crypto exchanges. 

The coins were minted during what is known as the “Satoshi-era” of Bitcoin, just after the network went live in January 2009 when the first “genesis” block was mined by Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

A whale in crypto jargon refers to a person or entity sitting on huge amounts of Bitcoin. It’s often the case that such investors don’t move their cryptocy for years.  Whales like the one Arkham pointed out today sit on astronomical gains: the price of Bitcoin held by this particular holder has risen over 16,700% in 10 years. 

Big whale movements can spook investors who sometimes interpret that the holder is about to cash in on their gains. Bitcoin is still an illiquid market by traditional finance standards, and a big sale of the cryptocy can have significant downward pressure on the price of Bitcoin. 

Terron Gold

Recent Posts

Coinbase Brings Bitcoin Collateral to Fannie Mae Mortgages, Expanding Crypto’s Role in Homeownership

Coinbase is helping bring cryptocy deeper into the U.S. housing market through a partnership with Better Home…

5 days ago

Republican Lawmaker Wants Prediction Markets Added to Congressional Stock Trading Ban

A growing bipartisan effort to curb financial conflicts of interest in Washington is expanding beyond…

5 days ago

ElmonX Brings Piet Mondrian Into Web3 Through New Doodles Collaboration

The worlds of fine art and digital collectibles are colliding once again as ElmonX prepares to launch…

5 days ago

VeVe Launches Stickerverse With Telegram Integration, Bringing Digital Sticker Collecting to Web3

VeVe is expanding beyond digital collectibles and comics with the launch of Stickerverse, a new social…

5 days ago

Kalshi Expands Into Ethereum Perpetual Futures Following Bitcoin Launch

Kalshi is moving quickly to expand its newly approved crypto derivatives business after announcing plans to…

6 days ago

Andrew Yang’s Noble Mobile Acquires Crypto-Powered Helium Mobile

Former U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang is expanding his presence in the telecommunications industry after Noble Mobile announced the…

6 days ago