The Forgotten Bitcoin Wallets – How They Could Affect the Economy

According to the blockchain monitor “Whale Alert,” there was a reactivation of an old wallet containing 50 Bitcoins for the first time in 13 years and 6 months. The mining of the block was on November 22, 2009, just a few months after the first Bitcoin transaction in January 2009. Because there were no exchanges at the time, Bitcoin was effectively worthless. As a result, the first users of Bitcoin did so as a hobby and did not expect to become wealthy. The creation of the wallet was before the famous programmer Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 BTC on two pizzas in May 2010. On February 8, 2011, Bitcoin and the US dollar were finally equal in value. The original owner of these coins has turned them into a $2,100,000 fortune. Even though the address was already existing while Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto was still active in the community, he is unlikely to be behind the transfer. The most likely explanation is that someone found the private keys to millions of dollars in Bitcoin. Some believe that the address owner turned to the wallet after jail release. In recent months, there have been several cases of Bitcoin wallet reactivation for the first time in years. In May 2020, the price of Bitcoin fell after “Whale Alert” learned that coins from a wallet that is believed to be Satoshi’s were reactivated. Later, they found that the transfer had nothing to do with the person who created Bitcoin. Effects on the Virtual Economy It is...