Satoshi Nakamoto, The Creator Of Bitcoin, Has 'Woken Up'

06/01/2024

Bitcoin is known for its volatility, and that characteristic often sparks various discussions.

Known for having an extremely volatile price, Bitcoin is heavily influenced by market sentiment, regulatory developments, macroeconomic trends, and technological advancements.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious figure behind the creation of Bitcoin, is unknown. Some believe it's an individual, while others think it might be a pseudonym for a group of people.

It all began when Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008 and mined the first block in 2009, known as the "genesis block."

Since then, Nakamoto remained incognito.

Until they made a move, 14 years later.

Bitcoin

Nakamoto's last known communication was in 2010, when they handed over control of the Bitcoin repository and network alert key to a group of developers before gradually fading into the shadows.

Nakamoto disappeared soon after creating Bitcoin, telling their fellow developers in a leaked email that they'd "moved on to other things."

Since then, there have been no direct communications from Nakamoto, and that anonymity surrounding Nakamoto has given rise to numerous speculations and theories.

The choice to remain far from public view has added an element of mystique and mystery to the whole Bitcoin origin story.

Nakamoto is estimated to have mined around 1 million Bitcoins, but the majority of these coins have never been moved or spent. The wallets associated with Nakamoto are often referred to as "Satoshi's coins," and their untouched status has fueled speculation about the reasons behind this decision.

Nakamoto's Genesis wallet remained pretty much untouched, with coins pouring into it mostly came as a tribute.

But two days after Bitcoin’s 15th anniversary, an anonymous sender dispatched $1.19 million in Bitcoin to the "1A1zP" Genesis wallet of Satoshi Nakamoto. Originating from the "bc1q9" address, this substantial sum of 26.917 Bitcoins was confirmed at block height 824,513.

Originating on January 3, 2009, this wallet has primarily accumulated nominal dust transactions, including the hard-coded block reward, minor dust transactions.

With the new Bitcoin deposit to the first-ever Bitcoin address attributed to Nakamoto, the total stands 99.676 Bitcoin, or an equivalent of $4.35 million.

This happened after the wallet withdrawn roughly the same amount from cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

Someone sent 26.917 BTC to the dormant Satoshi Nakamoto’s Genesis wallet address.
Someone sent 26.917 BTC to the dormant Satoshi Nakamoto’s Genesis wallet address. Nakamoto’s Genesis wallet address occasionally receives BTC as a tribute from users, but never this big.

This sparking speculation that the Bitcoin creator had "woken up."

Bitcoin has doubled its price in just 12 months, effectively recovering from a devastating 2022 price crash with a rally that some think could make it a $10 trillion asset.

"Either Satoshi woke up, bought 27 bitcoin from Binance, and deposited into their wallet, or someone just burned a million dollars," Coinbase director Conor Grogan said in an X post.

However, the large value of transaction triggered speculation about what could have been behind the payment.

Some said that it could be a marketing stunt related to one of the U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers as anticipation for an approval is reaching fever pitch.

Or, it could be someone trying to reveal the identity of Bitcoin's creator by leveraging a new U.S. tax rules, which require taxpayers in the U.S. to report every cryptocurrency transaction over $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

If holding true to this law, Nakamoto has to dox himself, or risk breaking the law.

Bitcoin price.
With the amount of Bitcoin in the Genesis wallet, and the rising price of BTC, Satoshi Nakamoto is indeed wealthy.

Now, after the sudden whale movement, JPMorgan's chief executive has predicted Satoshi Nakamoto could return and "erase" Bitcoin entirely.

"How the hell do you know that it’s going to stop at 21 [million]," asked Jamie Dimon, the bank CEO who has long criticized bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

"I've never met one person who told me that they know for a fact."

"I think there’s a good chance that [...] when we get to that 21 million Bitcoins, [Satoshi Nakamato] is going to come on there, laugh hysterically, go quiet, and all bitcoin is going to be erased."

His opinion is based on the number of Bitcoin that can be issued is part of Bitcoin's code.

While Bitcoin's supply is fixed at around 21 million, though the last Bitcoin aren't expected to be created - via a process known as mining - until around the year 2140, miners have the power to change things.

If a majority of miners vote to increase the supply of Bitcoin, the network would split, or fork, and the minority would continue to direct their computing power toward the network that has is capped at around 21 million Bitcoin.

Read: Big As Whale, Small As Plankton: Explaining The Cryptocurrency World That Has Animals As Names