Rare ‘Epic Sat’ of Bitcoin’s Fourth Halving Block Sold for Over $2 Million

An “epic sat,” an extremely rare satoshi (the smallest unit of bitcoin), derived from the fourth half of the network, recently sold for more than $2 million.

On April 25, crypto mining pool ViaBTC successfully auctioned “Sat 1,968,750,000,000,000” for 33.3 BTC, approximately $2.13 million, on cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx Global.

ViaBTC's Rare Satoshi Sold at Auction

CoinEx Global has announced that its partner ViaBTC mining pool has successfully produced the 840,000th block. This milestone marks Bitcoin's fourth iteration and features a block identified as a “rare satoshi”.

According to CoinEx, this event was not just an auction event, but part of the history of Bitcoin's blockchain, which saw community recognition, media coverage, and widespread adoption of the asset and network.

The auction was successfully completed, selling the FIRST & ONLY epic sat for 33.3$BTC (≈$2,134,000). This auction is not just an auction event; It has shown community recognition, media attention and widespread acceptance of #Bitcoin. A big thank you to everyone who supports us. pic.twitter.com/fCFz1YrH0I

— CoinEx Global (@coinexcom) April 25, 2024

This Satoshi, known as the “epic sat,” garnered a lot of interest, with 34 bids before an anonymous bidder won the title. The runner-up bidder offered 20 bitcoins for the rarity, but the bid was rejected.

The Bitcoin network currently has 100 million satoshis (SATs), each worth $0.00065. However, some sats are considered more specialized in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Only four of the first satoshis produced from the Bitcoin halving event are exceptionally rare and valuable. The Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, which assigns metadata to satoshis, has led to these “epic sats” being collected, and thus becoming highly sought after.

Following the fourth quarter, Bitcoin will struggle

The fourth Bitcoin halving event on April 20 reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. In addition to receiving 3.125 BTC in mining rewards, ViaBTC generated 37.6256 BTC in reward payouts, which is approximately $2,401,399.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin's price has been struggling since the halving. By Thursday morning, it had dropped below $64,000. As the market tumbled overnight after this price drop wiped out more than $209 million in crypto-long positions, nearly $52 million in bitcoin-long positions were wiped out. Comparatively, BTC peaked as high as $73k before halving.

However, the top crypto has seen some recovery in market cap. According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin is currently trading at around $64,386, up 0.2% from the previous day.

Meanwhile, the next Bitcoin halving will take place in 2018. It is expected to take place around April 17, 2028. In this fifth “epic sat” corresponds to the first subsequent block, according to mining rewards will be reduced to 1.56 BTC.