Rare Satoshi Sold for Over $2 Million in ViaBTC Auction
ViaBTC, a prominent crypto mining pool, recently made headlines by successfully auctioning off an extremely rare satoshi from Bitcoin’s fourth halving block for over $2 million. The satoshi, known as an “epic sat,” was sold for 33.3 BTC on the cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx Global.
The auction, which saw 34 bids before an unidentified bidder secured ownership rights to the rare satoshi, garnered significant interest within the crypto community. The runner-up bidder made an offer of 20 Bitcoin for the satoshi but was ultimately outbid in the auction.
This particular satoshi, labeled as an “epic sat,” is one of only four of the first satoshis mined after a Bitcoin halving event that are considered exceptionally rare and valuable. The Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, which assigns metadata to satoshis, has made these “epic sats” highly collectible and sought after within the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The fourth Bitcoin halving event, which occurred on April 20, reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. ViaBTC, in addition to earning 3.125 BTC in mining rewards, also received 37.6256 BTC in reward fees, totaling approximately $2,401,399.
Following the halving, Bitcoin’s price has been struggling, dropping below $64,000 on Thursday morning. This price decline led to the liquidation of over $209 million in crypto-long positions, with around $52 million in bitcoin-long positions being wrecked. Despite this, Bitcoin has seen some recovery, currently trading at around $64,386, up 0.2% over the last day.
Looking ahead, the next Bitcoin halving is projected to take place around April 17, 2028. With this upcoming halving, the fifth “epic sat” will be associated with the first subsequent block as mining rewards decrease to 1.56 BTC.