14-Year-Old Bitcoin Address Cashes out Big, Moves 21 BTC to Coinbase

A Bitcoin address created during Bitcoin’s early years has become active again, moving nearly 21 BTC ($1.56 million) to Coinbase.

The recent surge in the price of Bitcoin has sparked euphoria among investors. Interestingly, the recovery to previous all-time highs has seen previously dormant addresses from Bitcoin’s early years come to life again.

In the latest of such developments, a Bitcoin address that first had a transaction in April 2010 has become active after nearly 14 years. On-chain data shows that the wallet received a 50 BTC transaction as a block reward in April 2010 and has since held the coins.

However, in a transaction that took place hours before press time, the address moved 20.99 BTC ($1.56 million) to the popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. This left it with a balance of 29 BTC, which it still holds at the time of writing.

Long-term Bitcoin Holding Pays Off

The Bitcoin community on X speculates that the latest unlock was probably a case of an old user finally regaining access to their private key after several years.

Nonetheless, reactivation of the old Bitcoin wallet address serves as a reminder of Bitcoin’s store-of-value potential, especially when held over the long term. 

While miners earned 50 BTC per block at the time, the network has undergone three halvings, bringing the amount of newly issued BTC per block to around 6.25 BTC.

After the next Bitcoin halving, which is on track for April 20, 2024, the cryptocurrency’s inflation rate will become even lower with 3.125 BTC released per block.

Bitcoin’s price has risen 87% on the year-to-date chart amid the latest run. The most popular predictions call for Bitcoin to hit $100,000 before the end of the year, with the cryptocurrency now less than 30% away from the historic milestone.