Why That 24-Word Bitcoin Hack About Satoshi's Fortune Is Completely Wrong

A viral claim has been circulating: unlock Satoshi Nakamoto’s legendary Bitcoin stash—worth roughly $112 billion—with just 24 words arranged in the right order. Sounds terrifying? It should… if it were true. But it’s not.

The Technical Reality: BIP-39 Didn’t Even Exist Back Then

Here’s the thing most people miss: the earliest Bitcoin wallets predated the 24-word seed phrase standard by over a decade. The BIP-39 standard, which enabled encoding a master seed into either 12 or 24 memorable words, only arrived in 2013. Satoshi mined and held Bitcoin long before that system existed. Those old addresses? They used a completely different mechanism—no 12-word, no 24-word backup phrase. Game over for that narrative.

The Misconception: There’s No Single Satoshi Wallet to Crack

Here’s another critical misunderstanding fueling the fear: people imagine Satoshi’s enormous fortune sits in one massive Bitcoin wallet, waiting to be guessed. That’s not how it works.

Satoshi’s Bitcoin holdings are scattered across numerous pay-to-public-key (P2PK) addresses. It’s not consolidated. It’s not protected by a single seed phrase that hackers or curious researchers could potentially brute-force. Each address is its own independent puzzle, and together they form what we see as Satoshi’s Bitcoin legacy.

Why This Matters

Galaxy Digital’s head of research, Alex Thorn, didn’t mince words when addressing this viral claim: it’s “fake news” and “dumb slop.” He’s right. The claim conflates outdated wallet technology, misunderstands how Satoshi’s coins are actually stored, and spreads unfounded paranoia.

The bottom line? Stop worrying about someone cracking Satoshi’s Bitcoin with a magic word list. Focus instead on actually understanding how cryptocurrency security works—and you’ll realize the story never made sense to begin with.