- The idea that Satoshi Nakamoto mined 1.1 million and left them untouched is written into Bitcoin lore
- Seeing as Satoshi has never confirmed this, we can’t know for sure how many coins he mined
- Where does that number come from and how sure can we be?
When it comes to the name Satoshi Nakamoto, there are three things people tend to repeat as fact: he created Bitcoin, he’s never been identified, and he mined 1.1 million bitcoins which have never been touched. However, given that Satoshi has never confirmed owning such a large number of coins, how sure can we be that he does? We investigate the assumption that has become fact over time.
Early Blockchain Patterns
From the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, the blockchain’s transparent ledger has enabled close analysis of the mining activity associated with early blocks. A major study conducted in 2013 by researcher Sergio Lerner found unique cryptographic “fingerprints” in blocks mined during Bitcoin’s first year.
These patterns, now known as the “Patoshi Pattern,” reveal a sequence of blocks mined by a single entity, demonstrating a highly consistent mining pattern across multiple blocks. These are presumed to be Satoshi Nakamoto’s coins, but that’s as certain as Lerner could be. His analysis showed that this entity likely mined about 1.1 million Bitcoin, which is where the figure comes from.
Analysing the Patoshi Pattern
The “Patoshi Pattern” is a unique configuration of block timestamps and nonce values, which indicates a controlled mining process in Bitcoin’s early days. Lerner’s work showed that this mining pattern does not resemble the more random approach of later Bitcoin miners. By keeping the nonce values within a narrow range, this early miner demonstrated a high degree of control and consistency, distinguishing these blocks from others mined later:
Blockchain researchers believe this pattern is intentional, likely Satoshi’s way of ensuring network stability as Bitcoin was starting up.
Why Did Satoshi Leave His Stash?
Today, Satosh’s coins are worth a staggering $74.5 billion, but despite holding significant value, the coins mined by the entity believed to be Satoshi remain untouched to this day. Some believe Nakamoto may have left the coins unspent to avoid disrupting Bitcoin’s economy, especially since moving such a large amount could destabilize the market. Others speculate that Nakamoto’s decision reflects a philosophical commitment to Bitcoin as a decentralized system, leaving its future to its users rather than its creator.
There is, of course, the chance that Satoshi will come back and cash out his treasure trove, but someone who so prized his privacy would not be crazy enough to do so now in a world where every single address is monitored by both the government and Satoshi watchers.
In summary, then, while we cannot be sure that Satoshi owns 1.1 million bitcoins, it seems that one entity did, an entity that has not touched them, for whatever reason. This makes Satoshi as much of a viable candidate as anyone.
