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Two bitcoin wallets untouched since 2010 move 100 BTC worth about $6.9 million
Summary
Two bitcoin addresses holding 50 BTC each moved their coins on Friday after more than 16 years of inactivity, a combined 100 BTC worth about $6.89 million, The Block and Decrypt reported.
Decrypt says both were mining rewards from blocks mined on Sept. 8 and Sept. 19, 2010, when bitcoin traded for roughly six cents, so each 50 BTC reward was worth about $3.
Blockchain tracker Whale Alert flagged the first transfer at 4:08 a.m. UTC on Nov. 13, with the second following just over two minutes later, according to Decrypt.
A later transaction combined coins from both wallets, suggesting one owner, but who controls them and why they moved is unknown; Decrypt notes it is unclear whether this was a sale, an OTC deal or a wallet change for security, and no sale had been identified as of about 14:00 UTC.
Key facts
- Two bitcoin whale addresses moved 100 BTC worth $6.89 million after more than 16 years of dormancy on Friday.
- At Friday's prices near $68,800 per bitcoin, the coins' value had risen about 1,147,511 times; Decrypt notes that measures unrealized appreciation, not money the holder has made.
- Each transaction split the coins into two new addresses and paid 1,110 satoshis in network fees, about $0.75.
- Decrypt calls the $3 starting value an estimate, since bitcoin barely had a market in September 2010; Mt. Gox's first recorded trade, that July, was at $0.04951.
- Galaxy Research data highlighted in August showed decade-old bitcoin moving at a rarely seen pace in 2026, including six wallets from 2011, 2012 and 2014 that moved 553.59 BTC in one 10-day stretch.
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