In an unexpected turn of events, a once-dormant wallet from the Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) in 2015 has sprung to life, causing ripples in the crypto community. The wallet, which had remained untouched for eight long years, recently made a startling move by transferring its substantial holdings to another address.
Following the mysteriousness that comes with this move, questions arise about the motives behind this unexpected awakening and the potential impact on the Ethereum market.
The Awakening Of A Sleeping Giant
On-chain analysts, Lookonchain, were the first to notice the activity within this dormant wallet. The wallet was first seen initiating a test transaction, moving 1 ETH worth $1,845, followed by a transfer of the remaining 7,999 ETH ($14.7 million).
Delving into the wallet’s history, the wallet acquired its 8,000 ETH holdings during the Ethereum ICO at a bargain price of approximately $0.31 per token, amounting to a mere $2,500 investment at the time.
The current value of these holdings implies roughly 591,900% return on investment, underlining the tremendous gains early Ethereum investors have experienced.
After the transfer, the funds found their way into another wallet that showcases limited transaction history. Interestingly, just moments prior to this happening, a separate inbound transaction of 207 ether ($380,000) was recorded in the same wallet.
This incoming transaction originated from a distinct wallet that had remained inactive since 2017. The motives behind this consolidation and the subsequent movement of funds remain shrouded in mystery, leaving the crypto community speculating on potential reasons for such actions.
Speculations On Moved Dormant Ethereum
While the exact intentions of the Ethereum ICO participant are uncertain, the crypto community under the Lookonchain post revealing this information was quick to make speculations. Some noted that this moved Ethereum from a dormant wallet might be from someone migrating from their old ledger wallet.
Over the past week, Ledger, a leading hardware wallet provider and renowned name in secure crypto custody, faced a significant blow to its reputation when it unveiled a new feature called Recover. Intended to serve as a cryptographic backup for users’ seed phrases, the announcement was met with severe backlash from the community.
The backlash intensified when Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier confirmed that the government could access clients’ private keys through the Ledger Recover feature in case of a subpoena.
As the backlash escalated, Ledger was forced to halt the launch of the Recover feature and instead await the release of a white paper and further progress on its open-source roadmap before proceeding.
However, with users becoming increasingly vigilant about the custody of their digital assets many have migrated away from Ledger in search of a safer alternative. Speculation suggests the person behind the movement of the dormant ETH might fall into this category.
Regardless, the Ethereum market remained unshaken to this news. Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum has shown slight bullish signs, and up by 1.1% with a trading price of $1,845.
-Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView
