Ancient Ethereum Whale With 12,566 ETH Makes Surprising Return: Details

In a move that has captured the attention of the cryptocurrency community, an ancient Ethereum whale has returned to the scene after a period of dormancy.

According to Spot On Chain, an Ethereum large holder has made a significant transaction after a hiatus of 1.12 years.

The investor, who participated in Ethereum's ICO, deposited 1,069 ETH valued at a staggering $3.56 million into the Kraken exchange, in recent hours, with the ETH priced at $3,329. Depositing tokens to exchanges indicates a desire to sell, while withdrawals might signal buying.

The Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO), held in 2014, is regarded as one of the most significant events in the history of the cryptocurrency. During the ICO, participants had the opportunity to acquire ETH tokens at a relatively low price, with the hope of seeing the value of their investment grow over time.

The said whale received 12,566 ETH at Ethereum Genesis in July 2015, at an ICO price of $0.31.

In the years that followed, the whale distributed the purchased ETH to numerous wallets while also selling a portion of the massive ETH stash.

According to Spot On Chain, the whale distributed 12,566 ETH across 12 wallets in 2017; 4,847 ETH were deposited to Kraken and Gemini at an average price of $1,637 afterward. The whale now holds 7,719 ETH worth $25.7 million across eight wallets.

At the time of writing, ETH was up 2.35% to $3,342.

$4 billion worth of ETH taken off crypto exchanges

According to on-chain analytics firm IntoTheBlock, $4 billion worth of ETH was withdrawn from exchanges in the last quarter, indicating significant accumulation by holders.

On March 13, Ethereum received its long-awaited Dencun upgrade. Following Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, activity on the main optimistic rollups swiftly increased, reaching weekly highs of 32 million transactions.

Gas prices were initially as much as 100x lower in many L2s, but have recently risen significantly as blob transfers became more prevalent and transaction demand increased.