An ancient beast has suddenly risen from its slumber after lying dormant for 14 years. In the realm of crypto, such a beast is known as a whale—an early adopter of the blockchain holding massive amounts of currency. Whales are often closely monitored by the community due to their foresight; therefore, even the slightest activity can be read as a signal based on which the markets can shift.

One of these whales, currently speculated to be Roger Ver, has moved 80,000 Bitcoin over the past 24 hours. That’s more than $8.6 billion in regular people’s money, made from an initial investment of less than $210,000 back in 2011. Doing the math, this mystery whale has achieved a hypothetical return of nearly 4 million percent over its initial purchase, or approximately 40,000 times the original amount.

All of these Bitcoins are from the highly revered Satoshi era, the infancy period between 2009 and 2011, when the cryptocurrency was first introduced. Wallets from this time are from true believers of Bitcoin, people who invested in the radical idea of a decentralized financial system when a single coin wasn’t even worth $1. So, you can imagine the delight on crypto bros’ faces when someone decided to move a record-breaking amount of Bitcoin yesterday.

The previous record for the largest single transaction in Bitcoin history was a mere 3,700 BTC, and a whopping 10,000 BTC has now surpassed it, moving at once. There was a total of eight wallets involved in this transaction, each containing the aforementioned 10K Bitcoin, and they’re all owned by the same person, according to leading crypto analyst Arkham.

The tide started around early Friday, when two wallets that had been inactive for 14 years suddenly transferred 10,000 BTC each to new addresses. These original wallets date back to April 3, 2011, when they initially received a large amount of Bitcoin. At the time, one Bitcoin was worth just 78 cents, so 10,000 BTC would be valued at $7,800. That chalks up to a nearly 14 million percent increase.

Eight hours later, six more wallets from the same era—each containing 10,000 BTC—moved their holdings without any prior test transactions. These are from May 4, 2011, when Bitcoin had risen to $3.25. In total, these eight wallets make up 80,000 Bitcoin, the entire stash believed to have been held by the mysterious whale. Bitcoin is currently trading at $108,000, slightly down from its historic high of $110,000, which it had reached shortly before the transfers occurred.

Interestingly, during our research, we came across a 2023 Reddit post that discussed six Bitcoin wallets, each holding 10,000 BTC, and speculated on their ownership. The curious OP floated names like the Winklevoss twins and even jokingly suggested this might be “Satoshi’s inheritance to his children.” These six wallets, dating back to May 4, 2011, are the very same ones involved in the historic transaction, which moved their Bitcoin just hours after the earlier set of wallets from April 2, 2011, made their move. Forget our mystery whale, Reddit user RealVoldermort was the one who saw the storm coming before it ever even brewed.

The Mysterious 6 Wallets Holding 10k BTC each

from

r/CryptoCurrency

Of course, no one knows where these Bitcoins went. Was it a sale? Was it inheritance, simply moving from a deceased investor to their heir? Perhaps, it was Roger Ver—one of the earliest investors of Bitcoin, who championed the currency around its creation more than a decade ago. At least, that’s what @SaniExp on Twitter claims with “99%” assurance.

Constituents around the world have interesting theories as to why such a transaction occurred on a random Friday without any prior indications. Believing that Roger Ver is our leading man, some speculate that he executed the “sale” as part of a potential plea deal with the U.S. government. Ver, currently residing in Spain, is wanted in the United States on tax fraud charges and, earlier this year, appealed to President Trump for a pardon to avoid extradition.

Regardless of who is revealed to be the whale swimming in the ocean, it’s safe to say that it has shaken the world of crypto and finance as a whole. The new wallets, now containing over $8 billion of Bitcoin, have had no further movements since, and the true identity of our new owner remains unknown. We will update the story with more details if anything valuable surfaces.

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