- $8 billion in bitcoins dating back to 2010 were moved last week
- Plenty of theories have abounded as to who could be the lucky owner
- We run through the likely (and less likely) rumours that have sprouted since the epic move
Last week, more than $8 billion in bitcoins was moved out of wallets dating back to 2010, just months after Bitcoin was launched. The owner of eight addresses, each containing 10,000 BTC, moved the coins out of the addresses one after the other, sparking fears of a major dump. However, none of the coins were moved to exchanges, prompting a raft of suggestions as to who moved them and why. Here, we run through some of the more widely spread theories.
Roger Ver
Known as ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ for his early evangelism of the cryptocurrency, Ver’s name was quickly on the list as a potential mover. This was based on the belief that Ver might have the funds stashed away, given his early involvement, but came with no evidence. Ver was arrested in Spain in March last year, where he is facing extradition to the United States, where he has been indicted for income tax evasion. The odds of his pulling off this move at this time are, therefore, unlikely.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The obvious candidate, given that some of the coins date back to 2010 when they were mined. However, the mining of these coins continued into 2011 after Satoshi said he was giving up Bitcoin mining and quitting the scene, and none of the addresses match those in the ‘Patoshi’ pattern often associated with the creator.
Crypto Exchange
Given the size of the move, it would make sense that that was a crypto exchange moving some of its cold wallet coins as opposed to an individual. However, we have to consider the age of the coins; even the biggest exchange at the time, MtGox, didn’t really get going until 2012, and it certainly didn’t have as many coins before then. Plus, no exchange has claimed the move, which it normally would do in order to prevent fear of sales. We have to conclude, therefore, that this was an individual or group of individuals.
Hackers
It’s hard to imagine if you are the owner of the coins in question, but, of course, there is the theory that hackers got into the wallets and moved the coins into their own addresses. Proponents have pointed to a small Bitcoin Cash transaction prior to the big moves as evidence of this, but it is unlikely that hackers would simply move the coins to new addresses without going through a tumbling service first to hide the origins, or cash out at least a few million.
Craig Wright
‘Faketoshi’ Craig Wright claimed to own one of the addresses from which the coins were moved when he was trying to defend himself in his battle with the Australian Taxation Office in 2014. This has led to some believing he moved them, but there’s a problem: the list of addresses he gave the ATO were all proved to be owned by other people (including, ironically, Roger Ver), and Wright produced a new list with all different addresses. However, this, too, was proved to be a fake, and Wright never mentioned it again.
Not him, your honour.
Owner’s Identity Will Remain Hidden
Given that none of these theories holds water, it is highly likely that the owner is an OG miner moving their coins to a new wallet for security reasons, and we will never know their identity. While it’s fun to guess who this billionaire might be, we should always remember that this person deserves (and needs) their privacy, and there should be a limit to the amount of investigation conducted into who they are.
