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Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin (BTC), might have gone into hibernation forever; however, the display of respect for him just took a new turn. A meme coin project, Pups Token (PUPS) hosted on Bitcoin, just sent 90% of its entire holdings to a Satoshi Nakamoto address, according to insights from data analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.
The intention of the Pups Token team was not so benevolent as the goal was to sacrifice an Ordinal by sending it to Satoshi. In the process, they moved the funds in their treasury unknowingly. Considering the fact that Satoshi Nakamoto remains unknown, retrieving the funds remains almost impossible for the team.
While Satoshi’s address cannot be classified as a dead wallet, the inaccessibility of the funds, worth about $7,000 at the time of the transfer, remains impossible. There are some upsides to this unexpected twist as the remaining Pups Token might gain additional value over time.
Someone accidentally sent 90% of their BTC holdings to Satoshi Nakamoto last night.
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) May 18, 2024
They were attempting to sacrifice an ordinal for @PupsToken, but accidentally sent almost their entire wallet balance as well - around $7K in BTC.
Stay safe.
Track Satoshi on Arkham:… pic.twitter.com/eOfIkFQXjP
At the time of writing, PUPS Ordinals has recorded a 7.6% drop in its price in 24 hours to $15.9 per token. While the outlook for the team itself looks bleak, the project might survive this blunder considering that the gifted amount is a negligible fraction of the market capitalization worth around $122,885,856.
Meme coin projects are fond of giving gifts to the leaders in the domiciled ecosystem. This practice began with Shiba Inu (SHIB), which gifted Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin a significant portion of its circulation supply at inception. The tokens, worth over $7 billion at their peak, were burnt by Buterin, helping to boost the valuation of the assets.
This gesture by Buterin set a major precedent that other projects have tried to emulate to date. In the case of PUPS, the precedent set served as another reminder to innovators and users alike to be cautious with transactions, as many are irreversible.