Someone just moved a block of bitcoins first mined in February 2009

Fifty original bitcoins moved from a wallet that has been dormant since 2009. The coins, mined on block 3654 one month into Bitcoin's existence, were sent to two addresses today.

One address received 40 of the more than decade-old coins, equating to $391,055. Another address received 9.99 and is currently separating the sum into smaller pieces sent to other addresses. 

This marks the first time since August 2017 that an account has moved coins from 2009, according to Antoine Le Calvez, lead data engineer at Coin Metrics. 

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Some are speculating the transfer came from a wallet owned by anonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. However, these coins are unlikely to be Satoshi’s according to past research looking at nonce data.

The address of the once-dormant wallet appears on Craig Wright's filing of claimed wallet addresses relating to his case with the Kleiman estate. Wright has claimed he is the identity behind Satoshi, and the address one of thousands of unclaimed addresses Wright listed in the filing.

However, there is substantial doubt that Wright is Satoshi or even the owner of all filed addresses, including the one at hand. One Memo.cash user created a post verifying the signature of the address and calling Wright a "liar and fraud," more than a year ago.

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.