In early December 2025, a Bitcoin wallet that had been untouched for 15 years suddenly became active. Does this early adopter hold more Bitcoin, and are they planning to sell it all as Bitcoin’s price is on the decline?
The Movement of 50 Bitcoins #
In a post on X, Lookonchain showed that a miner moved a whopping 50 bitcoin from the early years of Bitcoin to an external address. This miner had mined block 45,711 back then, and we are now at block 926,000 on the Bitcoin blockchain. This block earned the miner 50 bitcoin, which he has now moved—usually a sign that they are about to be sold.
In the very early years of Bitcoin, finding a block yielded a reward of 50 bitcoin. Today, you get just over three. At the time, mining was still possible with a regular computer, and electricity costs were negligible. This block dates from March 18, 2010—meaning this miner has now earned millions almost for free.
Onchain Lens confirmed this on X, calling it a Bitcoin address ‘from the Satoshi era’.
What Impact Do 50 Bitcoin Have Now? #
It’s entirely possible that this miner with diamond hands owns no more than these 50 coins. But it’s equally plausible that he has many more and that these are the first sales of a very large number of Bitcoin from the early days.
If the miner holds thousands of bitcoin, another series of sales could follow, which could cause quite a stir in the crypto market. If a lot of bitcoin is sold, the price will likely fall even further.
Bitcoin Sales by Miners #
When coins haven’t been moved for so long, it’s also possible that new owners have taken over (for example, through an inheritance) and that they want to offload the bitcoins while the price is still relatively high.
The reserves that Bitcoin miners hold in their portfolios are steadily declining, according to data from CryptoQuant:
Essentially, Bitcoin miners have been selling more bitcoin than they have been mining since the beginning of 2024. This creates constant selling pressure from miners. In the past 2 years, they have sold approximately 300,000 bitcoin.
Troubles for Miners #
The difficulty of mining Bitcoin is at a historic high. As a result, the cost per mined bitcoin is very high, and competition is immense. This causes revenues to decline, and with a lower Bitcoin price, problems begin to pile up.
According to analyst Ted Pillows, the current price of Bitcoin is only 19% higher than the cost of electricity. As soon as the price drops below these costs, some miners will have no choice but to stop mining.
Remarkably, the Bitcoin price has been above the electricity cost for mining since 2016, leading Pillows to suggest that this is a support level for the price of Bitcoin.