Satoshi’s 1.1 Million Bitcoin Stash Draws Fresh Attention

Bitcoin’s earliest mined coins are back in focus after several dormant wallets suddenly became active, while the network recorded one of the highest daily transaction counts in its history.

Seven dormant Bitcoin addresses holding 50 BTC each were activated on September 5 after remaining untouched for roughly 16.5 years, according to Whale Alert. The movement of these Satoshi-era Bitcoin wallets has renewed interest in the enormous amount of BTC believed to belong to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

The activity comes as the Bitcoin network experiences unusually heavy usage. Galaxy Research reported that Bitcoin recently processed 893,391 transactions in a single day, marking the fourth-highest daily transaction count ever recorded and placing activity above the 99th percentile of its historical range.

Galaxy Research also examined Bitcoin mining rewards from before the cryptocurrency’s first halving on November 28, 2012. During that period, approximately 10.5 million BTC was issued across 210,000 blocks, with miners receiving 50 BTC for each successfully mined block.

Researchers estimate that 172,042, or 83.5%, of the original 50 BTC coinbase outputs have already been spent. Most of those coins reportedly moved before 2014.

However, approximately 33,995 of the original 50 BTC mining outputs remain untouched, representing about 1.699 million BTC. Galaxy estimates that 21,922 of those outputs, totaling approximately 1.096 million BTC, were mined by Satoshi Nakamoto.

That means Satoshi’s suspected Bitcoin holdings represent roughly 64.5% of all remaining unspent 50 BTC coinbase outputs from Bitcoin’s earliest mining era.

The coins are commonly associated with the so-called “Patoshi miner,” an early mining entity believed to have generated around 1.1 million BTC between 2009 and 2010. Researchers have long theorized that the miner was Satoshi because of its distinctive mining patterns and activity during Bitcoin’s infancy.

The Patoshi miner reportedly stopped operating in May 2010. Its gradual reduction in mining activity and the fact that most of the estimated 1.1 million BTC stash has never moved have fueled theories that Satoshi mined primarily to secure Bitcoin’s young network rather than accumulate coins for eventual sale.