Revived Age by Vintage Year (BTC)
Stacked BTC supply by year-of-birth cohort - visualises how each vintage class (2009 to today) contributes to the circulating supply over time.
What is it?
Revived Age by Vintage Year (BTC) decomposes total Bitcoin supply by year-of-birth class. Each coin received on the blockchain is tagged by the year of its first creation (origin transaction). Cohorts are indexed from 2009 (Patoshi era) to the current year. The stacked-area chart visualises how each generation of coins evolves: some shrink (coins spent and re-locked into a more recent cohort), others remain stable (true OG hodlers). Industry standard for pure Bitcoin cohort analysis.
How to read
Stacked-area absolute in BTC. Read from bottom (2009 cohort) to top (current cohort). A band shrinking over time marks that this generation is distributing (coins spent to other cohorts or transactional consumption). A stable band marks pure conservation. The total sum equals circulating supply (~21M asymptotic). No BTC price overlay because 18 vintages saturate the axis.
Key zones
The 2009 cohort (Patoshi era) remains structurally stable around ~1.1M BTC, most attributed to Satoshi. The 2010-2012 cohorts shrink slowly (occasional movements in bull markets). The 2017+ and 2021+ cohorts redevelop after each post-cycle (internal rotation). The current cohort (year-of-birth = current year) is the most volatile in size (growth via mining + redistribution).
What to observe
Cycle-to-cycle transitions leave clear fingerprints: after each halving, new cohorts gain weight while older ones mature. Watch specific cohort movements: if the 2017 cohort suddenly loses weight, it is a massive distribution indicator (these coins were acquired at the previous top and are now distributing). The 2009 cohort remaining stable across all cycles = strong evidence that most Patoshi coins are durably dormant or lost.
Historical context
Major events visible on this series: Patoshi mining era end (~April 2010), Mt.Gox collapse 2014 (2010-2013 cohorts reduced), block size war 2017, Bitfinex/Tether crisis 2019, FTX collapse 2022, ETF launch 2024. Each event leaves a distinctive fingerprint on specific cohort thickness. The 2024 cohort (post-ETF) has a particular signature: rapid and stable growth, reflecting institutional accumulation.
Expert notes
The 'year-of-birth cohort' concept differs from the classic 'age band' concept: age bands evolve over time (a 2009 coin moves successively through <1m, 1m-3m, ..., > 10y), while vintages remain fixed. This difference enables cross-cycle analysis: we can track a generation's identity independently of its instant age. For premium analysis, cross-reference with #318 Revived Age by Vintage Year (USD) - the BTC vs USD comparison reveals valuation transformations at constant quantity.
Common mistakes to avoid
Common mistake: assuming a 2009-tagged coin is necessarily a Satoshi coin. The '2009' tag simply means this coin's first UTXO creation dates to 2009 (mining or first reception). Does a later internal transaction of a 2009 coin re-tag it? No - the origin cohort is conserved by industry convention. Once the coin is spent and created in a new UTXO, the NEW UTXO's tag may be different.
Programmatic access
REST API
curl -sS \
'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/revived-age-byyear-btc/history?days=90' \
-H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'MCP server
{
"tool": "get_chart_value",
"metric_id": "revived-age-byyear-btc",
"timeframe": "1y"
}Required tier: pro. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.
Related metrics
Institutional disclaimer
Trinity Insights is an educational and analytical tool. The metric above does not constitute investment advice. Trinity Insights is not a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) registered under MiCA Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. See the full disclaimer.