Crypto exchange Coinbase filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a listing on the stock market back in December
Coinbase sent its filing in the form of an S-1 registration statement confidentially to the Securities and Exchange Commission and reserved copies for its legal teams. According to public documents released by the California-based exchange yesterday, a copy of the filing was also addressed to the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and the Bitcoin genesis block address.
Nakamoto’s identity is a risk factor
The name of the creator appeared four times in the report under different references with one acknowledging Satoshi as the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper. The exchange admitted that the identification of Satoshi could have an impact on the Bitcoin market as it would make the asset lose some of its value.
The registration report also suggested that the transfer of his Bitcoin holdings could destabilise the asset’s price. The Bitcoin creator is believed to have mined about 1.1 million BTC (representing nearly 5 % of the entire Bitcoin supply) according to investigations on the earliest Bitcoin blocks. This stash is worth around $52 billion at the current price of $47,000.
Implication of the movement of Satoshi-era coins
The postulation that a transaction involving these coins could affect the crypto market is far from baseless. Movements of some of the earliest mined Bitcoins have often led to price fluctuations in the past. So far, there have only been a handful of these transactions over the years. The latest significant movement of coins mined in the first two years after Bitcoin’s launch happened on Wednesday this week when a long-term holder moved over 100 bitcoins.
The holder, who is believed to be a veteran Bitcoin miner, moved the coins from two separate wallets. It was the first major transaction involving either address in over a decade. The only recorded activities were two transactions that added 0.00000547 BTC to each wallet.
A study of the transaction and two mining address outputs showed that only a few hours separated the time when the blocks were mined on June 10 back in 2010. The crypto asset was trading at $0.08 at the time of mining. Based on today’s prices, these holdings have increased in value over 587,000 times.
It is not known if Satoshi will decide to move the Bitcoin stash at one point or not. Regardless, it is most improbable that the creator will willingly reveal their identity.