IMPORTANT POINTS:
- A former Ethereum “whale” has woken up and moved 61,216 ETH to Kraken, earning a 616,000% profit.
- This mystery wallet address has been inactive for eight years since the Ethereum ICO.
- Even though this wallet no longer contains ETH, it still holds numerous other tokens.
A mysterious wallet address that has been around since the creation of Ethereum (ETH) has just moved its entire ETH reserve after going silent for about eight years.
According to blockchain tracker Lookonchain, this Ethereum “whale”, which received 61,216 ETH on July 30, 2015 after participating in the second largest crypto asset’s initial coin offering (ICO) the previous year, has finally woken up.
Ethereum’s Leaping Whale
A few hours ago, the whale transferred all the ETH holdings to an address that Lookonchain identified as belonging to Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange.
Furthermore, the blockchain tracker claims that the whale received the ETH from the Ethereum Genesis contract at a cost of approximately $0.31, which translates to a gain of approximately 616,029% over about eight years.
The incredible profit of the whale
At the time of the ICO, the entire holding of ETH, now worth around $116.9 million, cost the whale slightly less than $19,000. At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $1,885. However, even though the mysterious wallet now does not contain Ethereum, it does hold numerous other tokens.
The Impact of the Ethereum ICO
During the Ethereum ICO, more than 50 million ETH were sold, raising around $17.3 million at the time. Some of the proceeds went to the non-profit Ethereum Foundation, while a portion was allocated to the founding team of the crypto asset.
On the other hand, a similar transfer of Ethereum by a previously dormant whale of coins acquired during the crypto-asset’s early days occurred in April. On that occasion, the whale moved 2,635 ETH with an equally impressive profit of 594,000%.