A batch of 100.02 BTC that had remained untouched since July 2010 moved on Wednesday at 18:52 UTC, according to CoinDesk’s review of Bitcoin transactions. At current prices, the coins were worth roughly $8.5 million. When the address first received them, bitcoin was trading around $0.06, putting their market value at about $6 based on historical pricing data from StatMuse.
CoinDesk said the 100.02 BTC arrived at the address on July 30, 2010 and had not moved until this week. Galaxy Research, the research arm of crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital, first flagged the transfer on X.
The coins came directly from two mining rewards created during Bitcoin’s so-called Satoshi era. CoinDesk added that their age alone does not establish any connection to Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The transfer split the coins into two outputs
Wednesday’s transaction sent 10 BTC to one address and about 90.02 BTC to another. When CoinDesk checked on Thursday morning, both outputs were still unspent.
Public blockchain records do not show who controls the receiving addresses, and they do not show whether the coins are about to be sold. That uncertainty is part of why old holdings draw attention: coins that have been absent from trading for years can suddenly become available again.
Some long-dormant bitcoin may have been assumed lost simply because nobody spent them for years. A successful transfer shows that someone still has the ability to move them. It does not show whether that person is the original owner or whether a cash-out is planned.
CoinDesk also pointed to a much larger example of old bitcoin reaching the market. Galaxy said in July 2025 that it sold more than 80,000 BTC for an early investor as part of an estate-planning strategy. This week’s transfer is much smaller, and the available records do not establish that a sale has taken place.
An active address, but dormant coins
The move raised questions online because the address itself had spent other bitcoin between 2011 and 2018.
Bitcoin records incoming payments separately, which means a wallet can spend one payment while leaving another untouched. Those unspent pieces are known as UTXOs. An address can stay active while a specific UTXO remains still for years, and CoinDesk said that is what happened here.
The address spent 200 BTC across two transactions in August 2015, another 100 BTC in December 2017, and 249 BTC in March 2018. The separate 100.02 BTC payment received in July 2010 remained unspent the entire time.
Galaxy Research wrote on X: 「This address has been somewhat active in the past, but these specific coins have not moved since 2010. We track the coins.」
CoinDesk traced the funds to two mining rewards
CoinDesk said it traced the 100.02 BTC directly to two mining rewards created in July 2010. One was worth 50 BTC, and the other was worth 50.02 BTC, including fees.
At the time, miners — the computers competing to add transactions to Bitcoin — received 50 newly created BTC per block. That is why CoinDesk identified the funds as coming straight from early mining activity.
The report again noted that the coins date from the Satoshi era, the period when Nakamoto was still active, but that timing does not prove any tie to Nakamoto.
How the transaction was structured
Wednesday’s transaction did not move only the old holding. CoinDesk said it also combined six tiny later deposits with the long-dormant coins, then sent 10 BTC to one address and roughly 90.02 BTC to another.
As of Thursday morning, both resulting holdings remained unspent.