A long-dormant Ethereum whale has re-emerged after more than eight years of silence.
Blockchain tracking platforms and analysts confirmed that approximately 200,000 ETH, worth around $800 million, moved earlier today from two legacy wallets that had not been active since Ethereum’s early days.
Tracking platform Lookonchain noted that the whale controls a total of 736,316 ETH worth roughly $2.9 billion, spread across eight separate wallets.
Ethereum Whale Chooses to Stake, Not Sell
Contrary to common fears associated with large-scale wallet activity, the ETH was not sent to exchanges. Instead, the assets moved to new addresses, specifically into staking platforms, including Ethereum’s Plasma infrastructure, to earn yield.
This behavior further confirms the whale’s long-term confidence in Ethereum’s price outlook and its yield-generating potential.
Indeed, the transfer of such a large amount of ETH could have shaken the market. However, since the investor has sold none, analysts view the move as a positive sign.
Specifically, analyst Emmett Gallic, who first called attention to the whale’s movement, described the action as “bullish.”
On-Chain Data Confirms the Origin
Lookonchain reported that the ETH originated largely from Bitfinex and early mining pools back in 2017. In other words, this is an Ethereum OG who accumulated during or shortly after the ICO era.
While some of the wallets were last active four years ago, the earliest ones had been dormant for over eight years, according to Lookonchain. This makes the whale one of the longest-dormant major ETH holders to reappear in recent times.
For context, at the time of their last activity, the 736,316 ETH tokens the whale holds were worth just around $30 million. Meanwhile, today, the value is nearly $3 billion.
ETH Price Under Pressure
Notably, this whale reawakened at a time when Ethereum’s price is under significant pressure. The altcoin briefly dipped today to $3,829, its lowest price since August. The dip follows massive sell-offs from Ethereum ETFs earlier this week.
Since Monday, ETFs have dumped over $547 million in ETH across four consecutive days of selling. Thursday’s figures were among the worst performances as all ETFs recorded outflows, except BlackRock, which saw neither inflows nor outflows. However, on the previous day, BlackRock sold $26.5 million worth of ETH.
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