Bitcoin Mined in 2010 Comes Back to Life After 16 Years, Valued at $8.5M

A 100.02 BTC holding mined in 2010 moved Wednesday after sitting untouched for more than 16 years. At current prices, the bitcoin is worth about $8.5 million.

The coins were received by a Bitcoin address on July 30, 2010, and remained unspent until a transaction was confirmed at 18:52 UTC Wednesday, according to CoinDesk’s review of blockchain records. Galaxy Research, the research division of Galaxy Digital, first identified the movement and posted about it on X.

BTC was worth around 6 cents when the address received the 100.02 BTC, putting the coins’ market value at roughly $6 at the time, according to historical pricing data from StatMuse. That comparison reflects the increase in the holdings’ market value over 16 years and does not indicate the owner’s purchase price or any proceeds from a sale.

Transfers involving extremely old bitcoin often attract attention because coins that have remained dormant for years can suddenly become active. Some long-unused holdings may have been considered lost. The transaction confirms that someone still has control of the coins, but the blockchain does not reveal whether the current holder is the original owner or whether the bitcoin will be sold.

There are examples of far larger dormant holdings being moved. Galaxy confirmed in July 2025 that it sold more than 80,000 BTC on behalf of an early investor as part of an estate-planning strategy. The latest movement is significantly smaller, and the transaction data does not establish that a sale took place.

A Previously Active Address

The address involved had also been used for other bitcoin transactions between 2011 and 2018, adding another layer of interest to the movement.

Bitcoin records each incoming payment as a separate output. This means users can spend one group of coins while leaving another untouched. These individual unspent outputs are known as UTXOs, allowing an address to remain active even when particular coins associated with it have not moved for years.

The address spent 200 BTC in two transactions during August 2015, followed by 100 BTC in December 2017 and 249 BTC in March 2018. The separate 100.02 BTC payment received in July 2010 remained untouched throughout those years.

Galaxy Research said on X that the address had been active previously, but the specific coins involved had not moved since 2010.

CoinDesk traced the 100.02 BTC to two mining rewards created in July 2010. One reward contained 50 BTC and the other contained 50.02 BTC, including fees. Bitcoin miners received 50 newly created BTC for each block at the time.

The coins were mined during Bitcoin’s early “Satoshi era,” when its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was still active. Their age and mining history do not, however, establish any connection to Nakamoto.

The latest transaction combined the dormant coins with six smaller deposits received later. It sent 10 BTC to one address and about 90.02 BTC to another. Both amounts were still unspent when CoinDesk reviewed the addresses Thursday morning.