In a surprising turn of events, an unidentified Ethereum user who participated in the genesis initial coin offering (ICO) suddenly sprang to life on June 29 after an entire decade of dormancy, sparking discussions around what the intention of this could be.

ETH Holder Turns $310 Into $2.44 Million

A wallet that participated in Ethereum’s ICO and acquired 1,000 ETH at an ICO price of $0.31 per token, equivalent to $310, made waves on Sunday as it transferred 1 ETH, according to data from blockchain tracking platform Lookonchain. That crypto sat dormant for years. 

Vitalik Buterin published Ethereum’s whitepaper in 2013, visualizing a programmable blockchain that was different from Bitcoin and would power a new age of on-chain finance. The network went live in July 2015 following an initial public offering and now ranks as crypto’s flagship altcoin.

The whale in question generated a profit of approximately 787,000%, turning the $310 into a staggering $2.44 million at current prices. ETH is changing hands at $2,459 at press time, up a paltry 0.2% on the day. The second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap is still down 49.8% from the all-time high that was set in late 2021, even though Bitcoin smashed a record peak in May. 

Sunday’s transaction marks the end of a 10-year slumber by this anonymous holder.

Huge transactions by such early adopters can influence market sentiment. When an ancient holder suddenly awakens and moves their stash, it’s typically because they’re preparing to sell holdings.

This move follows a previous transaction, where a long-dormant whale sent $12 million worth of Ether to the Kraken crypto exchange earlier this week. The whale had obtained a total of 107,000 ETH in 2016 at an estimated value of $1.39 million.

Meanwhile, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci recently predicted that Solana’s SOL will overtake ETH in terms of market cap, though he did not provide an exact timeline. As ZyCrypto reported, Scaramucci claimed that he doesn’t hold a negative view of Ether, but that “I just understand the Solana story a little bit better.”

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ June 30, 2025 2:27 pm