600 BTC From 2010 Wakes After 16 Years — Whale Alert Rules Out Satoshi Link

Twelve Bitcoin addresses holding a combined 600 BTC (roughly $48 million) moved their coins on Saturday after more than 16 years of dormancy, according to onchain tracking platform Whale Alert. The coins originated from 12 mining block rewards paid in March 2010, when each block still yielded a 50 BTC subsidy. The movement reignited speculation about a possible link to Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator who was actively mining during that era.

Whale Alert conducted a detailed trace of all 12 rewards and concluded none of the blocks were mined by Nakamoto. "None of the blocks can be connected to Satoshi based on our research," a Whale Alert spokesperson told Cointelegraph. The platform's findings expanded on an earlier X post identifying seven of the rewards, which it had also determined were not attributable to Bitcoin's creator. Onchain analytics firm Lookonchain had initially flagged seven miner wallets moving 350 BTC after 16.5 years of inactivity as part of the same event.

The transfers drew attention because they date to a period when Nakamoto was still engaged with Bitcoin development, having last communicated publicly in April 2011. One address received its 50 BTC reward on March 5, 2010, and moved the coins to a new address on Sept. 5, 2026. Whale Alert noted that one reward moved several blocks before the rest, suggesting a test transaction ahead of the larger transfers. Since those blocks were mined, the BTC block subsidy has been halved four times, most recently in April 2024, falling to the current 3.125 BTC per block.