{"id":8848,"date":"2021-09-01T10:12:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T14:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=8848"},"modified":"2021-09-01T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2021-09-01T14:12:33","slug":"value-of-legacy-hunting-down-satoshi-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2021\/09\/01\/value-of-legacy-hunting-down-satoshi-bitcoin","title":{"rendered":"The value of a legacy: Hunting down Satoshi\u2019s Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin\u2019s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a figure surrounded by mystery, and this intrigue continues today despite many aspects of the founder\u2019s influence being studied at length.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A particular point of interest has been a large amount of unmoved Bitcoin mined in the early days of the blockchain\u2019s existence that is attributed to Satoshi. Much like a sunken treasure captures the imagination of explorers, this BTC\u2019s existence and its dormancy have been the subject of extensive research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, there\u2019s been a lot of attention whenever BTC contained in wallets mined in the years following Bitcoin\u2019s creation is moved. Some of these transactions have warranted the attention, while others simply fall out of the timeframe when Bitcoin\u2019s creator and other early adopters may have been mining.<\/span><\/p>\n

A significant amount of analysis and simulations have been made in an effort to accurately identify blocks and Bitcoin believed to have been mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. Thanks to the efforts of individuals, there is a better understanding of how they went about mining, how many blocks they mined, and how much BTC they accumulated as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others have built on this work to make the picture clearer \u2014 but there is still so much interest surrounding the legacy BTC mined in the early days of the blockchain\u2019s existence and if and when it will ever be moved.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Patoshi Pattern<\/span><\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s rewind the clock to early <\/span>2009<\/span><\/a> when Satoshi Nakamoto brought Bitcoin into existence by mining the genesis block. In the months that followed, the founder and other early collaborators and adopters began to use the blockchain, mining blocks and transacting with their BTC wallets.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bitcoin mining reward of 50 BTC meant that a large amount of the capped cryptocurrency was mined in the three years before the first-ever halving event. Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s role in the early Bitcoin mining ecosystem has been proved to be significant through blockchain analysis conducted by <\/span>cryptocurrency security consultant Sergio Demian Lerner,<\/span> which meant that the founder\/s were in control of a significant amount of BTC.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cointelegraph reached out to <\/span>Lerner<\/span>, who currently works at IOV Labs as their chief scientist, to better understand how he helped shed light on Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s involvement in the foundation of the Bitcoin network.<\/span><\/p>\n

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