80,000 'Satoshi Era' Bitcoins, Dormant for 14 Years, Moved...Valued at Approximately ₩11 Trillion

Recently, approximately 80,000 Bitcoins (BTC) from the 'Satoshi era' that had remained untouched for over 14 years—an amount worth about $8.5 billion—were transferred in a single transaction, raising concerns in the market.

On the 5th (local time), cryptocurrency-specialized media outlet CoinDesk reported, “On the night of the 4th (local time), a total of 80,000 BTC—10,000 BTC each from eight different Bitcoin wallets—were sent to SegWit addresses.” These wallets were all created in early 2011 and had never been used before, making them the so-called “whale addresses” from the 'Satoshi era.'

In particular, about an hour before the main Bitcoin transfers took place, it was discovered that 10,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) were first sent out from one of these wallets. Some analysts believe this may have been a confidential withdrawal test by the wallet owner in advance.

Conor Grogan, an executive at Coinbase, explained, "This user may have experimented with BCH before moving BTC," adding, "BCH is less monitored, so the user may have intended to avoid detection."

It is still reported that there is no evidence linking these wallets to any specific individuals or institutions. In addition, only one of the eight wallets moved BCH, while the others remain inactive. It's also unclear whether the user has access to all the wallets.

The outlet added, “While some communities have raised the possibility of private key hacking through quantum computing because of this large-scale movement, it remains theoretical and is considered unlikely in practice.”