After a lengthy dormancy, a long-dormant Ethereum address that participated in the blockchain’s initial coin offering (ICO) has come to life. The wallet transferred one ether to a new address, which some speculate may have been a test transaction. This was the wallet’s first sent transaction and occurred in block 17110898, timestamped over 10 hours ago.
According to on-chain analysis account Lookonchain, the wallet received 2,365 ether during Ethereum’s genesis, which is worth approximately $4.42 million today. One ether was valued at around $0.31 during Ethereum’s ICO, and today, the price of ether stands at $1,860.
Similar activity from old Bitcoin whale addresses
The Ethereum ICO participant’s activity follows two similar transactions from old Bitcoin whale addresses. On April 21, a bitcoin whale that had been inactive for a decade transferred 279 bitcoins, worth $7.8 million at the time of the transaction, to three new addresses. That transaction came a day after another long-dormant Bitcoin whale transferred 2,071.5 BTC, worth $60.7 million, after nine years of inactivity.
While the exact reasons for these moves remain unknown, speculation exists that some long-time crypto users are moving old funds to new wallets amid an alleged wallet-draining operation targeting old wallets. However, substantiated details regarding this theory remain scarce.