Mysterious $1.2M Bitcoin Transaction to Satoshi Nakamoto Sparks Speculations

An
unusually
large
bitcoin

(BTC)
payout
on
Friday
to
pseudonymous
Bitcoin
creator

Satoshi
Nakamoto‘s
blockchain
address
has
left
crypto
enthusiasts
bewildered,
speculating
about
the
intention
of
the
transaction.

An
unidentified
crypto
wallet
on
Jan.
5
sent
some
27
bitcoin
–
worth
$1.17
million
at
the
time
–
to
the
first-ever
Bitcoin
address
attributed
to
Nakamoto,
shortly
after
withdrawing
roughly
the
same
amount
from
crypto
exchange
Binance,
blockchain
data
by
Arkham
Intelligence
shows.

The
address
receiving
the
recent
hefty
payout
is
Nakamoto’s
wallet
that
mined
the

Bitcoin
network’s
inaugural
“genesis”
block
on
Jan.
3,
2009,
still
containing
the
first
50
BTC
reward,
according
to

Blockchain.com
data.
After
last
week’s
payout,
the
address
held
nearly
100
BTC
worth
$4.5
million.

Notably,
the
transaction
happened
only
two
days
after
the
15
year
anniversary
of
the
Bitcoin
network’s
start.
Users
from
time
to
time
send
pittances
to
the
long-dormant
genesis
wallet
commemorating
the
start
of
the
Bitcoin
network.

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

“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.

He
further

speculated
that
it
could
perhaps
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.

Read
more:



If
a
Bitcoin
ETF
Is
Approved,
Here’s
What
May
Happen

Jeremy
Hogan,
partner
at
law
firm
Hogan
&
Hogan,
theorized
that
the
transaction
might
be
an
attempt
to
reveal
the
identity
of
Bitcoin’s
creator
leveraging
new
U.S.
tax
rules.
Taxpayers
in
the
U.S
need
to
report
every
crypto
transaction
over
$10,000
to
the
Internal
Revenue
Service
(IRS)
starting
this
year.

“The
only
thing
that
makes
any
sense
is
that
the
sender
is
flushing
Satoshi
out,”
Hogan
said
in
an

X
post.
“Satoshi
has
to
dox
himself,
or
break
the
law.”

The

sending
address
had
no
history
before
the
transaction
to
Satoshi’s
wallet,
data
on
Arkham
shows,
but
later,
it
interacted
with
an
address
labeled
as
the
brokerage
platform
Robinhood’s
hot
wallet.

Market
observers

estimate
Nakamoto’s
bitcoin
total
holdings
at
1.1
million
BTC
worth
almost
$50
billion
spread
over
a
plethora
of
addresses.
BTC
recently
traded
at
around
$45,000.