The Genesis Ethereum wallet address is back after being dormant for about nine years. Wallets holding significant amounts of ETH tokens have not been used since 2015, the same year Ethereum was launched. This news sparked a debate among the crypto community about the reason for the sudden resurgence.
Dormant Ethereum whale with around 2,000 ETH tokens reactivates
Earlier today, WhaleAlert, a crypto tracker of large transactions, revealed that a dormant “pre-mining” had taken place. Ethereum address reactivated 8.8 years later. In this wallet, he just has 1,969 of his ETH tokens, worth a whopping $5.87 million at the time of reporting.
💤 1,969 dormant pre-mine addresses #ETH ($5,876,786) has been activated for the first time in 8.8 years! https://t.co/MzyVVkMhIc
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 2, 2024
In response, members of the cryptocurrency community expressed shock at the whale's inactivity for years. Some see this as a strategic awakening, while others are impressed by the fact that whales remember passwords after so long in the first place.
Meanwhile, prior to this, an old wallet associated with the Ethereum Foundation was also reinstated after being suspended for nine years. According to previous reports, a wallet that received ETH from the foundation's official address in 2015 moved 2,000 ETH tokens (worth $6.507 million) to an address labeled “0x9d2D.”
It can be observed that when the Ethereum Foundation released large amounts of Ethereum in the past, the market reaction was poor. Previously, investors had witnessed multiple sales by the Ethereum Foundation this week. According to a report earlier today, 100 ETH tokens were sold for 291,267 DAI stablecoins via the Cow protocol by another wallet associated with the foundation. The reactivation of Ethereum addresses coincides with a spike in overall Ethereum whale activity this week. Cryptocurrency trader and analyst Ali Martinez noted that Ethereum whale activity has seen the largest growth in the past year, with over 139,000 new ETH wallet addresses created on April 29th alone.
Ethereum price reaction
Meanwhile, Ethereum joined the broader crypto market in a price reversal, posting notable gains today. According to data from CoinMarketCap, Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at $2,990, marking a 1.2% increase over the past 24 hours.
Although the price seems to be heading north, the trading volume is pointing in the other direction, plummeting 28.01% in the recorded time period. As a result, Ethereum's market capitalization is now $358.7 billion. Looking back, ETH price has declined by 5.49% in the past 7 days and by 8.57% in the past month. Additionally, top cryptocurrency analysts are predicted It is believed that Ethereum price could plummet further to the $2,500 zone.
