Why do people buy old bitcoin addresses?

[johntrichfield]

What would they use it for?

[pooya87]

it could be a lot of different reasons!

but mostly they do it because in the past there has been altcoin airdrops based on the amount of bitcoin you had at a specific time (at a block height). for example if you had any bitcoin by the time bitcore fork happened (block #463604) you also have the same amount of bitcore (of course in this case i think the claiming period has ended).

there are a lot of these and to claim any of them you do need private keys.

[Asuspawer09]

What would they use it for?

Selling bitcoin is kinda creepy scheme. You are not sure about ita background. May be those where accounts soon to be banned. But what makes you attracted to by it is of its ranks so you must not let yourself be captured by it. Much better if you are to create your own account rather buying. It is a lot safer and better.

[Jerusareth]

it could be a lot of different reasons!

but mostly they do it because in the past there has been altcoin airdrops based on the amount of bitcoin you had at a specific time (at a block height). for example if you had any bitcoin by the time bitcore fork happened (block #463604) you also have the same amount of bitcore (of course in this case i think the claiming period has ended).

there are a lot of these and to claim any of them you do need private keys.

I thought that airdrops only applies if you hold a specific amount of your Bitcoin and not what you had.

[hardtime]

it could be a lot of different reasons!

but mostly they do it because in the past there has been altcoin airdrops based on the amount of bitcoin you had at a specific time (at a block height). for example if you had any bitcoin by the time bitcore fork happened (block #463604) you also have the same amount of bitcore (of course in this case i think the claiming period has ended).

there are a lot of these and to claim any of them you do need private keys.

They could be going for this, or they could be praying that the addy that they're buying is stolen. So in the off chance that some more Bitcoin comes to the address at some point they're going to get some money. The chances may be slim but it could be worthwhile for someone to try to grab some BTC at this high of a price.

it could be a lot of different reasons!

but mostly they do it because in the past there has been altcoin airdrops based on the amount of bitcoin you had at a specific time (at a block height). for example if you had any bitcoin by the time bitcore fork happened (block #463604) you also have the same amount of bitcore (of course in this case i think the claiming period has ended).

there are a lot of these and to claim any of them you do need private keys.

I thought that airdrops only applies if you hold a specific amount of your Bitcoin and not what you had.

It matters about how much BTC they had at the time of the fork, that's it.

[pooya87]

~
I thought that airdrops only applies if you hold a specific amount of your Bitcoin and not what you had.

different airdrops use different rules. some may have a minimal amount of bitcoin, for example they may only give you their coin if you have 0.1BTC at least. but the timing is always a part of it.

~
They could be going for this, or they could be praying that the addy that they're buying is stolen. So in the off chance that some more Bitcoin comes to the address at some point they're going to get some money. The chances may be slim but it could be worthwhile for someone to try to grab some BTC at this high of a price.

as i said there may be a lot of different reasons for this.
for example you should be able to find the master private key (seed) if you have a couple of private keys which were generated from that seed. so if you have a deterministic wallet and reveal a couple of your private keys, they may empty your whole wallet.

[h0lybyte]

We know several hard foks have been taken place in past two yeasr, forked currencies like bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold were distributed according to your bitcoin balance existed during fork For example, if you had 1 bitcoin in your wallet during fork time, you would have received 1 bitcoin cash in your wallet.
Some websites buy these wallets to get forket currencies out of those wallet, you can sell your wallets on http://www.freebitcoins.com/

[sarfwr]

What would they use it for?

It may be to obtain a certain fork currency, because the snapshot is finished, or money laundering, falsification data.

[Jerusareth]

~
I thought that airdrops only applies if you hold a specific amount of your Bitcoin and not what you had.

different airdrops use different rules. some may have a minimal amount of bitcoin, for example they may only give you their coin if you have 0.1BTC at least. but the timing is always a part of it.

~
They could be going for this, or they could be praying that the addy that they're buying is stolen. So in the off chance that some more Bitcoin comes to the address at some point they're going to get some money. The chances may be slim but it could be worthwhile for someone to try to grab some BTC at this high of a price.

as i said there may be a lot of different reasons for this.
for example you should be able to find the master private key (seed) if you have a couple of private keys which were generated from that seed. so if you have a deterministic wallet and reveal a couple of your private keys, they may empty your whole wallet.

I have a 0.70+ Bitcoin with my Electrum wallet before the Bitcoin Cash was created does it mean I am still eligible with their airdrop?

[CryptosapienZA]

Woow we live, we learn. I was not even aware of this trend. The seller would obviously be ignorant of that airdrop otherwise why would he sell if he can claim the airdrop coins for himself.

[pusa aso]

What would they use it for?

in this time it is so hard to join bitcoin,thats why they are asking those people who want to sell their bitcoin addresses.but for me i would rather keep my bitcoin and just keep on earning.

[eaLiTy]

I have a 0.70+ Bitcoin with my Electrum wallet before the Bitcoin Cash was created does it mean I am still eligible with their airdrop?

If you were holding the coins at the time of snap shot of the block chain then you are still eligible to claim your bitcoin cash .First move your bitcoin to a safe wallet then use that private key in a bitcoin cash wallet and claim your coins ,it is a simple process but make sure your bitcoin is safe before doing anything.

[pinoyden]

they use those old bitcoin adress in order to dig clam because clam has also a value that they could sell in order to get a profit out of them. currently the price of one clam coin is $11.83  based on CoinMarketCap. however you can also try to dig clam by yourself using your own old bitcoin adress but it could also takes time to do.

[copperminer]

i think the most two common forks/UTXO are:
- CLAM, which is a UTXO fork (addresses prior to May 24th, 2014)
- BCC prioir to Block 478558.
- Bitcoin Gold prior to block 491407.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bitcoin_forks.

I know there are many services offer to convert the funds into btc, but basically you just would need to know when you had which balance of coins.

[Rubick99]

I just knew peoples need old Bitcoin address to claim clam coin, that why peoples bought some old Bitcoin address. And the price of claim coin is 0.0007BTC at this time.  I believe this will going up again

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

i had more than 10 old wallet create june 2014 in web wallet blockchain . but i dont know this worth to sell or not . cause i dont get anything too.

[Kakmakr]

A lot of people are also doing this to fool people into believing that they were early investors. If you can sign an early address, people will believe that you were invested during that period. Most people will not even think that you bought it online.

Scammers will use this as a tool to scam people into believing that they are rich or that they have access to lots of old coins.

Early investors are also admired for their courage to take risks in the days when Bitcoin was still a very high risk investment. <Brag rights>

[Caesar-Giulius]

Most likely, it is for claiming airdrops. There were plenty of airdrops in the past and not everyone know all airdrops.

A lot of people are also doing this to fool people into believing that they were early investors. If you can sign an early address, people will believe that you were invested during that period. Most people will not even think that you bought it online.

Scammers will use this as a tool to scam people into believing that they are rich or that they have access to lots of old coins.

Early investors are also admired for their courage to take risks in the days when Bitcoin was still a very high risk investment. <Brag rights>

Very possible reason, I didn’t think of this. Thanks dude.

[Lemer]

These smart guys, they can pick up some forks, which is obviously a smart thing to do.

[dx_twisted]

they use those old bitcoin adress in order to dig clam because clam has also a value that they could sell in order to get a profit out of them. currently the price of one clam coin is $11.83  based on CoinMarketCap. however you can also try to dig clam by yourself using your own old bitcoin adress but it could also takes time to do.

I never knew that Clam could be mined or digged through old Bitcoin addresses. To be honest, I was not even aware that there are people who are willing to buy these old addresses for the sake of it. I'm not even pretty sure before what was the purpose of buying. I thought that they prefer the old ones as personal wallet since they are the most secured ones. Anyways, is it really worth buying it? How much is the cost of these old addresses and the profits it could bring by digging clams? I might start buying if it is really profitable to do so.