Author: Chloe, PANews

On April 26, 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin, sent his last email to developers, stating that he would be focusing on other work and handing over the encrypted private key used to send network-wide alerts, mainly for activating the so-called "alert system" of the Bitcoin protocol to warn software operators to protect fund security. However, new clues about the long-disappeared Satoshi Nakamoto have recently emerged.

Genesis Block Wallet Shows "Activity," $1.17 Million Worth of Bitcoin Transferred

According to data from Blockchain.com, in the early hours of January 6, an address starting with bc1q9 purchased 27 bitcoins from Binance (currently worth approximately $1.17 million) and sent them to the wallet address of Satoshi Nakamoto: "1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa." The wallet currently holds 99.68689213 bitcoins, valued at approximately $4.347 million.

As shown in the image below, the receiving address is labeled "Satoshi 1," which was the wallet used by Satoshi Nakamoto to receive the 50 BTC block reward for the genesis block on January 4, 2009, and has not transferred any BTC since.

In the early stages of Bitcoin, as the founder, Satoshi Nakamoto was the sole miner in the entire Bitcoin network. When he mined a new block, a new address would be automatically generated to receive the miner's reward. This means that the bitcoins owned by Satoshi Nakamoto are not stored in a single large address, but are distributed across multiple addresses, each containing a 50 BTC block reward.

Based on estimates, Satoshi Nakamoto mined over 1.1 million bitcoins in the first few years of the Bitcoin network. At current market value, the value of this batch of bitcoins has reached $47 billion, spread across early network addresses, with each address holding an equivalent amount of bitcoins.

In theory, Satoshi Nakamoto has the private keys to these addresses and the ability to access and move or use the funds within. However, since Satoshi Nakamoto's last public activity in 2011, these wallets have remained inactive, including the funds from the genesis block created initially.

In fact, due to technical and historical reasons, the bitcoins in the genesis block are "unspendable." In the Bitcoin protocol, the genesis block is hard-coded, and its transactions are considered unspendable. This means that the initial 50 bitcoins from mining are not actually part of the Bitcoin supply and cannot be used for normal transactions, even though they exist on the blockchain.

This has led to a widespread consensus that Satoshi Nakamoto may never use these resources, or that the private keys to these bitcoins may have been lost or abandoned.

Speculation 1: Marketing Tactic for ETF?

While in recent years, many believers or fans of Satoshi Nakamoto have occasionally sent bitcoins to the "genesis wallet," resulting in the wallet balance increasing from the original 50 bitcoins to the current 99.68 bitcoins, the amounts transferred have mostly been small. What's the story behind this $1.17 million? Coinbase executive Conor Grogan pointed out on January 6 on X, "If it's not Satoshi Nakamoto returning and purchasing 27 bitcoins from Binance to deposit into the wallet, then someone voluntarily destroyed $1 million."

He further suggested that since the entire market is currently awaiting the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, this could very well be "some strange ETF marketing tactic."

A significant action like sending a substantial amount of bitcoins to the well-known genesis wallet is likely to attract attention, potentially increasing exposure to related derivatives or stimulating user trading activity, especially at a time when the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF is anticipated, which could impact the price and trading volume of Bitcoin.

However, whether this is orchestrated by institutions, whales, or an unknown individual remains unknown.

Speculation 2: Using Regulatory Power to Lure Out Satoshi Nakamoto?

American lawyer Jeremy Hogan predicted on X that this move is to force Satoshi Nakamoto to reveal his identity.

The reason behind this speculation is that the recent cryptocurrency transaction reporting requirements implemented by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) require users or addresses receiving at least $10,000 worth of cryptocurrency in a transaction to report transaction information to the IRS, including the sender's name, address, social security number (SSN), as well as the amount, date, and nature of the transaction.

This new tax reporting requirement took effect on January 1, 2024, as part of the infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in November 2021. According to the regulation, failure to submit the report within 15 days after the transaction may result in felony charges.

In addition, many netizens have expressed different opinions. For example, according to a Reddit post, "Technically, sending to the Satoshi address is completely transparent in the market and is a good way to promote your own wallet address." Some netizens believe, "It's possible that BlackRock is the holder of the Satoshi wallet and is playing everyone?" Others suggest that Binance may be the only entity in the world that knows the true identity of "Satoshi," but due to KYC rules, they may not be able to disclose the relevant identity, leaving it to the IRS to lure out the person in the end!

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