Bitcoin mined for pennies in 2010 moves after 16 years, now worth $8.5 million
The 100 BTC came directly from two mining rewards created during Bitcoin’s “Satoshi era” and had not moved for more than 16 years.
About 100 bitcoin BTC$82,470.75 mined when the cryptocurrency traded for pennies moved late Wednesday after sitting untouched for more than 16 years, carrying a value of roughly $8.5 million at current prices.
The 100.02 BTC arrived at an address on July 30, 2010, and remained there until a transaction confirmed at 18:52 UTC Wednesday, according to CoinDesk’s review of Bitcoin transactions. Galaxy Research, the research arm of cryptocurrency financial services firm Galaxy Digital, first flagged the movement on X.
Bitcoin traded around 6 cents when the address received the coins, putting their market value at approximately $6 at the time, according to historical pricing data from StatMuse. That comparison describes their appreciation, rather than what the holder paid or earned from a sale.
Old holdings attract attention because coins long absent from trading can become available to sell again. Some may have been treated as lost because nobody had spent them for years. A successful transfer shows someone still has access to spend them — although the public record does not reveal whether that person is the original owner or intends to cash out.
There is precedent for much larger holdings reaching the market. Galaxy confirmed in July 2025 that it sold more than 80,000 BTC for an early investor as part of an estate-planning strategy. Wednesday’s transfer is far smaller, and its records do not establish a sale.
The alert prompted questions online because the address had spent other bitcoin between 2011 and 2018.
Bitcoin records incoming payments separately, allowing a wallet to spend one payment while leaving another untouched. Those unspent payments are called UTXOs. An address can therefore remain active while some of its coins sit still for years, as 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 from July 2010 remained unspent throughout.
“This address has been somewhat active in the past, but these specific coins have not moved since 2010. We track the coins,” Galaxy Research said on X.
CoinDesk traced that payment directly to two mining rewards created in July 2010, one worth 50 BTC and the other 50.02 BTC, including fees. Miners, the computers competing to add transactions to Bitcoin, received 50 newly created coins per block at the time.
The coins date from the “Satoshi era,” when Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto was still active. Their age does not establish a connection to Nakamoto.
Wednesday’s transaction combined the old holding with six tiny later deposits and sent 10 BTC to one address and roughly 90.02 BTC to another. Both holdings remained unspent when CoinDesk checked Thursday morning.
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Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
Movement of ultra-long-held coins from Bitcoin's earliest era carries outsized psychological weight in markets. These 100 BTC—mined when Bitcoin was worthless and dormant for 16 years—now represent $8.5M in realized value, underscoring how early adopters who held through multiple cycles captured exponential returns. The 'Satoshi era' framing matters because these coins carry narrative weight; their activation signals either conviction-based selling after unprecedented patience or forced liquidation, both of which can move sentiment.
Historically, dormant coin movements trigger two conflicting interpretations: proof that hodling pays (bullish narrative) versus early whale capitulation (bearish signal). In this case, the coins' 16-year immobility suggests the holder has been offline or deceased rather than actively watching the market—making this closer to forced liquidity than tactical exit. The $8.5M price point also matters; it's high enough to justify moving coins but not so astronomical that it signals panic. This type of event is most significant as a long-term chart formation indicator—it demonstrates that early friction (lost keys, forgotten addresses, actual scarcity) continuously removes supply from circulation.