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Thursday Selloff from Potential Satoshi Nakamoto Wallet
Cryptocurrency markets are experiencing a mild selloff on May 21 as panic spreads over a transfer that possibly belongs to Satoshi Nakamoto. The wallet that initiated the transfer was the recipient of a 50 BTC block reward. The wallet mined a block on February 2nd, 2009, just one month after the bitcoin blockchain got started. The fear comes from the speculation that if this wallet belongs to Satoshi, then there is nothing stopping the owner from moving the rest of the Satoshi fortune.
The Satoshi Fortune
It is speculated that Satoshi Nakamoto owns between 600k and 800k bitcoin. In today’s value, Satoshi owns about 7 billion dollars worth of bitcoin. Many experts have tried to determine what would happen in the event that Satoshis fortune were to enter the market. A simple supply and demand analysis will tell you that flooding the supply of bitcoin will drop the price dramatically. This is a simple and plausible explanation for the sudden drop in prices on May 22nd. As individuals fear that Satoshis fortune is about to be sold, investors are looking to get out before the market is flooded.
The Craig Wright Case
The bitcoin address in question is peculiarly tied to the Craig Wright court case that is taking place in Miami Florida, US. Craig Wright is an Australian computer scientist best known for claiming that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. The court case is basically one individual (David Kleiman) claiming ownership over funds that are theoretically in the possession of Craig Wright. Wright claimed to have ownership over the address in question, but also denies initiating the transaction. This puts Wright in a precarious position, as he was specifically instructed not to move any bitcoin. There are about 16000 bitcoin addresses that Wright claims to have ownership over, 17XiVVooLcdCUCMf9s4t4jTExacxwFS5uh being one of them.
The Owner of The Address
The world of cryptocurrency has no shortage of interesting events. Satoshi Nakamoto left not only the legacy of bitcoin, but an amazing story with plenty of mystery. Nakamoto went to great lengths to hide their identity in the early days of bitcoin. Perhaps the real Satoshi is the owner of the address. It is possible they chose to move this bitcoin to show that Craig Wright is definitely not Satoshi. It is actually important for the integrity of bitcoin for Satoshi to remain anonymous. One of the ways that bitcoin is unique is that it has no formal leader. For example, if Craig Wright really is the creator of bitcoin, then the users are in some ways beholden to Wright’s values as a person.
The other possibility is that an early bitcoin miner cross checked their list of addresses they own against the addresses in the Craig Wright court case. Upon discovering that Craig claims ownership over their address, they saw a unique opportunity to anonymously disrupt the court case against the favour of Wright. Regardless of how this plays out, people never seem to run out of reasons to fear Satoshi’s fortune.
