Bitcoin accelerator ViaBTC has auctioned off the “epic” satoshi it mined for 33.3 Bitcoin which is approximately $2.13 million based on the current market value of the flagship cryptocurrency.
The Historic ViaBTC Auction
Upon the conclusion of fourth Bitcoin halving on April 20, ViaBTC mining pool won the competition to mine the first satoshi. It immediately decided to auction the ‘prize’ to interested bidders who are willing to pay enough. The auction for the epic “sat”, as crypto exchange CoinEx called the smallest denomination of Bitcoin, had a face value of $0.0006.
Notably, the auction was conducted on the CoinEx crypto exchange.
The completed auction seen the sat sold for a whopping $2.13 million. As expected, the auction recorded participation from several bidders who made the competition tough. Noteworthy, this epic sat is the first one produced by the Bitcoin launch before the reset of the Block count that will start the countdown to the next halving.
Therefore, it was expected that the offering would pique the interest of many crypto enthusiasts. Certain commentators even speculated that it could be worth millions of dollars. On X, CoinEx stated the auction is more than a bidding event, while adding that it signifies recognition, media attention and widespread embrace for the Bitcoin community.
Bitcoin 4th Halving Surpass Expectations
In past Bitcoin halving events, there wasn’t much at stake besides the prestige of mining the first block after the halving. The coming of Ordinals protocol brought a new view to how the sat is perceived. Satoshi, which is equivalent to 0.00000001 BTC, can now be identified and traded on blockchains like they were unique tokens, more like Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) on other networks.
In a rarity categorization explained by Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Ordinals, these sat could be “uncommon,” that is, the first sat of each block; “rare,” the first one after Bitcoin’s fortnightly difficulty adjustment; or “epic,” the first after a quadrennial halving.
It is not yet certain what ViaBTC will do with with proceed from the auction. Current speculation suggests it have plans of redistributing the auction profits entirely to miners. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading for $64,745.97, up 1.11% in 24 hours.
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from CoinGape