Last updated on May 18th, 2024 at 11:41 am
A previously dormant Ethereum whale who participated in the ICO has resurfaced, moving 32.1 ETH to US-based crypto exchange Coinbase. Before its return, the wallet address has been inactive for 8 years.
According to Lookonchain – a blockchain inspection platform, the wallet address appears to be linked to shemnon.eth (@shemnon). In addition, the wallet address received 200 ETH tokens during its initial coin offering days.
An Ethereum ICO participant who has been dormant for 8 years transferred 32.1 $ETH to #Coinbase just now.
The address received 200 $ETH at Ethereum Genesis.
And the address appears to be related to shemnon.eth (@shemnon).https://t.co/nj5eF8iRT0 pic.twitter.com/6Viytn4dU5
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 20, 2023
Several dormant addresses reactivated
The reawakening of this and other notable whales has sparked interest among the crypto community especially given the time frame in which it returned. Over the past months, several dormant addresses have reportedly been reactivated, moving and staking lump sums of Ethereum tokens.
In July, a Genesis dormant address was reactivated and transferred a staggering 61,000 (61 thousand) ETH to the Kraken exchange. At the time, the value of the total tokens moved was valued at $116 million.
Interestingly, the wallet also participated in the Ethereum ICO which took place in 2014. To date, the Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) remains one of the most significant coin offering events to have happened in the crypto industry.
In a separate event, another whale resurfaced in June and transferred almost 8,000 ETH. The wallet address reportedly received 50,000 (50 thousand) ETH in 2017 from an ICO participant.
These kinds of transactions draw the attention of the crypto community not just because of their significant size, but because of the massive return on investment these whales get after selling the coins at their current prices.
Investors are left to speculate about the possible reasons behind the sudden movements of assets by wallets that have been dormant for several years. Some people might guess that the original holders are deciding to take profits after an exponential growth in the price of the token over the years.
Others might attribute it to the growing popularity of Ethereum staking after the network moved from its proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake mechanism. Whatever the reason, it only underscores the benefit of holding crypto assets for the long term.
Ethereum (ETH) price today
Source: Coinstats
According to live data from Coinstats, Ethereum is currently trading at $1,609. The price is down 0.91% in the last 24 hours. What’s more, ETH has a 24-hour trading volume of $7,445,540,996 ($7.4 billion) and a live market cap of $193,533,992,728 ($193 billion).
Ultimately, Ethereum is regarded as the second-largest cryptocurrency in the market with a circulating supply of 120,225,541 (120 million) ETH.
