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Bitcoin prices fell Wednesday afternoon due to speculation that a long-dormant block of coins, with links to the alleged creator of the virtual asset, has just changed hands.
A Twitter account set up to issue tweet alerts when coins tied to certain addresses are traded indicated an exchange of a batch of virtual currency that is “possibly” tied to Satoshi Nakamoto, the person or persons who wrote the software code for the digital currency in 2009. Nakamoto’s identity has long been speculated, but the originator of the bitcoin has never been verified.
To read:Elon Musk says he is not the bitcoin mystery man Satoshi Nakamoto
Check-out: Legendary science fiction author says suggestion that he invented bitcoin is “flattering” but false
About 11 years ago, he created, or mined, the original batch of bitcoins which are widely known as the genesis block.
The tweet suggests that the lot of around 40 or 50 bitcoins that changed hands on Wednesday were mined within the first month of bitcoin’s creation.
See:Craig Wright claims to be the inventor of Bitcoin ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’
To be sure, the anonymous nature of bitcoin makes it impossible to know the owner of the coins, but the technology behind bitcoin makes it possible to track the addresses of certain blocks of coins.
Searching for coins related to the progenitor of the digital asset has become a regular pastime in the crypto community. Tracking large blocks of bitcoin also helps to understand the habits of those who have substantial influence on bitcoin prices by virtue of their holdings.
Bitcoin futures, which represent a single bitcoin, fell 1.3% on Wednesday afternoon, with the most actively trading in the US in May: BTCK20
BTC.1,
at $ 9,550, while spot prices of bitcoin BTCUSD,
they were 1.8% at $ 9,525, according to CoinDesk data.
Bitcoin futures have risen more than 32% so far in 2020 and were trading at an intra-session peak at $ 9,895 on Wednesday before stabilizing on the downside.
Numerous industry participants pointed out that the fact that bitcoins are vintage 2009 does not necessarily mean they are related to Nakamoto.
However, that hasn’t stopped interest in bitcoin rising on Twitter, with the term “satoshi” becoming a viral term on the social media platform Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
Bitcoin was created as an alternative payment system 11 years ago, one that operated anonymously and peer-to-peer, eliminating the so-called trusted third party.
The cryptocurrency was born amid concerns that the modern currency is produced by central banks that print fiat money to stimulate economic growth, a view that gained increasing traction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Proponents of bitcoin argue that because the digital asset is decentralized by central banks or governments, people can conduct transactions without an intermediary. This is part of the charm of bitcoin.
However, the fledgling asset hasn’t made significant progress in price since it hit a December 2017 high near $ 20,000.
Critics also point out cryptocurrency’s association with money laundering as one of its biggest drawbacks. So far, bitcoin hasn’t scaled enough to make it a legitimate currency and much less a store of value, other opponents say.
That said, bitcoin has managed to hold its own against gold so far this year, with GC00 gold futures,
up to 15% from the beginning of the year. In comparison, the S&P 500 SPX Index,
is down 8.1% this year and the DJIA Dow Jones Industrial Average,
they are off nearly 14% after a coronavirus-induced dip virtually brought equity markets to their knees in March.
To read:What is bitcoin halving and on what day does it happen?
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