A 2013-era 500 BTC output moved after more than 12 years

A 2013-era output moved

At 19:16:10 UTC on May 10, 2026, Bitcoin transaction ab9c1621c47e4b4d8bebf3b38cf1707c1e8d20ed2570e1cd128c8cae954cae1d was confirmed in block 948,822. The transaction spent a 500 BTC output held at the legacy address 1KAA8GGhVjjUjVTz1HKAjCyGNzAKQd882j and swept smaller outputs from the same address. It created one output of 500.00039836 BTC at the native-SegWit address bc1qm6m6d33d02edr0k8yj9jgt027zl6dvx6thjrxy.

Contemporaneous reporting traced the 500 BTC output to November 27, 2013, making the spend the first movement of that principal in more than 12 years. The blockchain proves that the output moved; it does not identify the controller of either address or reveal why the transaction was made.

This is a newly researched Coinburn archive reconstruction tied to the May 10, 2026 event date. It is not presented as the lost original article or as text published on that date.

What the transaction establishes

The Mempool explorer record reports 28 inputs, one output, a fee of 25,405 satoshis, a virtual size of 5,053 vbytes and a fee rate of 5.03 satoshis per vbyte. The destination received slightly more than 500 BTC because the transaction also consolidated many small deposits that had accumulated at the source address. That detail matters: describing the entire address as completely inactive would be imprecise. Public address history shows small inbound transfers before May 10, 2026, while the economically material 500 BTC output remained unspent.

The transaction record also shows replace-by-fee signaling and a locktime of 948,821. Those are transaction-construction facts, not evidence of a sale, exchange deposit or change in beneficial ownership. A transfer between addresses can represent a custody upgrade, key rotation, estate planning, collateral movement, an over-the-counter arrangement or preparation for a market sale. No public statement from the controller established which explanation applied on May 10, 2026.

Why the movement mattered

Old unspent outputs are watched because they represent supply that has remained outside active circulation for long periods. When a large historical output moves, traders can reasonably monitor whether it reaches a labeled exchange address. They cannot reasonably treat the first hop alone as proof of selling pressure.

The recipient used a Bech32 native-SegWit address, whereas the source was a legacy pay-to-public-key-hash address. That format change is consistent with a wallet migration, but consistency is not confirmation. Address formats describe scripts and encoding; they do not disclose the owner or transaction purpose.

Contemporaneous reports valued the 500 BTC principal at roughly $40.6 million to $40.7 million. That figure was a conversion, not an amount transferred in dollars. Whale Alert used a BTC price of $81,434.18 at the 19:16:10 UTC transaction timestamp, yielding approximately $40.72 million for 500 BTC. Other reports used different spot snapshots, so their dollar totals varied. Bitcoin trades continuously across venues, and there is no single official consolidated spot price.

Limits of the May 10 record

The verified event is narrow: a long-held 500 BTC output was spent on May 10, 2026 and consolidated with smaller inputs into a fresh destination. The record did not establish a sale, profit realization, exchange inflow or the identity of a “whale.” Any of those stronger claims required later address attribution or an attributable statement.

A follow-up review should trace subsequent hops, check whether reputable labeling services later associated the destination with a custodian or exchange, and preserve the distinction between an on-chain transfer and an executed market trade.