- Recent research proves the transfers of 8,000 ten-year-old ‘forgotten Bitcoins’
- The Bitcoins have mined over a decade ago and were never moved
- The unidentified Bitcoin whale sold his decade-old block rewards to Coinbase
According to recent research, an unidentified Bitcoin whale who mined thousands of Bitcoin’s in its early days has sold over 8,000 BTCs in the last 10 months. The mysterious whale reportedly began mining as early as 2010.
Issak Shvarts who is a Russian blockchain researcher the author of the Telegram channel “gfoundinshit, has also been following the development of the decade-old block rewards. Earlier this week, he published a “full proof” report asserting that the bitcoins are now owned by Coinbase and also distributed after the transfers.
How Was He Able to Amass 8,000 Bitcoins?
Back in the day before the first halving and the influx of miners and mining farms, mining Bitcoin was relatively easy with high rewards. The block rewards in 2010 were 50 BTC compared to the 6.25 miners get today. There was also less competition, meaning miners could amass more block rewards than is possible now.
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The whale who is yet to be identified mined the Bitcoins over a decade ago but never moved them since the day the block rewards were discovered. However, throughout 2020 and into 2021, over 7,000 BTC which has been dormant for ten years has been mysteriously moved.
The Bitcoins are Now Owned By Coinbase
In his research, Shvarts leveraged the parser Btcparser.com and the blockchain explorer oxt.me to track the movement of the Bitcoins. Following the trails, Shvarts concluded that the Bitcoins are now owned by Coinbase, with some already being thrown into the circulation of its user base.
When the transfers started in 2020, Shvarts guessed that they were being sold to Coinbase. However, after his recent research, he claims they are 100 percent owned by the San Francisco based exchange. Using today’s exchange rate, an aggregate total of 8,000 BTC will be worth over $250 million.
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During his research study, Shvarts discovered a consolidation of 20 wallets, 50 BTC residuals in each address. There were also 1,000 BTC wallets scattered in batches of 10 BTC per address, these larger ones he refers to as “‘pockets’ for withdrawal.” In his opinion, the BTCs which were sent to the pockets were withdrawn in large amounts “apparently for some VIP users.”
After comparing the addresses from a withdrawal made from Coinbase to one of the 10 BTC addresses that derived from the original 1,000 BTC address, Shvarts concluded that the wallets belonged to the Coinbase exchange.
On the Flipside
- On the other end of the scale, mining firms are backing bitcoin with huge purchases, the latest being Marathon Patent Group.
- The Nevada-base mining firm recently purchased 4,812 BTCs worth over $150 million
- Marathon Patent Group says it wants to become the largest “pure-play Bitcoin investment option”
How Many More Whales Are There?
As for the decade-old bitcoins, Coinbase simply injected them into the market. According to Shvarts, using them for retail withdrawals, ‘whitens’ the whole gray Bitcoin ecosystem a little.
While there are multiple possibilities and theories as to who this entity is, the major concern now is how many more whale miners from the best days of mining are there? Are there more whales capable of whipping out humongous sums of virgin bitcoins at will? And how will it affect the crypto market? That much remains unseen.
