A cluster of Bitcoin (BTC) mined in 2010 has moved from long-dormant addresses for the first time in more than 16 years, sparking renewed speculation about a possible connection to Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator.

Onchain data reviewed by Cointelegraph shows that 12 addresses holding a combined 600 BTC — roughly $48 million at current prices — transferred their coins on Saturday after lying dormant for over 16 years.

Whale Alert, a blockchain transaction tracking platform, reported that the 600 BTC originated from block rewards mined across 12 Bitcoin blocks, and that its research found no link to Nakamoto.

"None of the blocks can be connected to Satoshi based on our research," a Whale Alert spokesperson told Cointelegraph, cooling speculation around the origin of coins mined during the period when Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator was still active in the project.

Movements of long-dormant, early-mined Bitcoin routinely draw market attention because watchers track whether such coins might be sent to exchanges or otherwise re-enter circulation; blockchain records, however, show only that the coins changed addresses, not what the owner intends to do with them.

Whale Alert traces all 12 block rewards

Whale Alert traced all 12 rewards to Bitcoin blocks mined in March 2010, an era when each block carried a 50 BTC subsidy. That subsidy has since been halved four times, most recently in April 2024, when it dropped from 6.25 BTC to the current 3.125 BTC per block.

The findings build on Whale Alert's earlier analysis of seven of the rewards. In an X post on Sunday, the platform said those seven rewards came from blocks it had determined were not mined by Nakamoto.

Lookonchain, another onchain analytics platform, had also initially identified seven miner wallets that moved 350 BTC after 16.5 years of inactivity, stating that the wallets had earned the coins through mining in March 2010, according to its post.

Satoshi-era does not mean Satoshi's Bitcoin

The transfers drew attention partly because the coins date from a time when Nakamoto was still actively engaged with Bitcoin. Nakamoto remained involved in the project's development and communications through 2010 before gradually stepping away, with their last known communication dating to April 2011.

Onchain records show that one of the 12 addresses received a 50 BTC mining reward on March 5, 2010, and moved the coins to a new address on Sept. 5, 2026.

Whale Alert also observed that one reward moved several blocks ahead of the others, a pattern consistent with a test transaction preceding the remaining transfers.

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