ETH ICO Whale Liquidates $10.16 Million Worth of ETH After 8 Years of Dormancy

After an 8-year dormancy, an $ETH whale has begun selling its $ETH holdings. 8 years ago, this whale received 12,229 $ETH, valued at $149K, from @ShapeShift

A whale that participated in Ethereum's (CRYPTO: ETH) initial coin offering (ICO) has begun to sell its ETH holdings after 8 years of dormancy in a move that has sparked conversations about the future of Ether.

Onchain Lens flagged a recent transaction where a whale liquidated 3,367.5 ETH, currently valued at $10.16 million. Onchain Lens data showed that the wallet received 12,229 ETH from ShapeShift 8 years ago. The ETH was about $12.22 each, and the total transaction was valued at $149,000 at the time. The wallet remained largely untouched until the recent liquidation.

According to OTC SpaceShift's issuing address was funded by an ETH ICO participant, who received 32,000 ETH. 5,000 ETH of the funds went to ShapeShift, the rest to Gatecoin, and 0.95 ETH to Cumberland, OTC says.

The liquidation is among the recent transactions witnessed from several wallets that participated in ETH's ICO years ago. On October 24th, another Ethereum ICO participant sold 3,000 Ether for approximately $7.64 million. This particular wallet had undertaken another 7,000 ETH liquidation on July 1st, which was worth $24.28 million.

ETH prices dipped by about 15% after the sale. According to data from Lookonchain, the wallet received 245,908 ETH during the project's ICO with an initial investment of $79,000, which is currently worth about $772 million at today's prices. The wallet's holdings were valued at $1.2 billion when ETH hit its all-time high in 2021.

Although the wallet has liquidated a substantial amount of its ETH holdings, the whale still holds a significant amount. Data from Ethereum's blockchain explorer Etherscan showed that the wallet still holds 37,069.8 ETH, which is currently equivalent to $112 million at today's prices.

Ethereum exchange reserves hit record lows

Ethereum's overall sentiment is bullish alongside the broader market, however, many have expressed concerns about Ether's price following the recent liquidations. One X user suggested that the recent sell-offs could impact the asset's price in the short term.

Some analysts have also suggested that ETH may experience a supply squeeze soon. Data from CryptoQuant showed that Ethereum's exchange reserves, or the total number of coins held by centralized exchanges, are hitting record lows. The declining exchange reserves could imply that the asset is experiencing low selling pressure.

Ethereum recently broke above the daily range, which was holding the asset's price between $2,160 and $2,761 since August. The crypto asset has surged by 21% in the last seven days and 4.31% in the last 24 hours. The upsurge has brought its retail price to $3,032 at the time of this publication.

Ethereum's recent uptick coincides with the broader crypto frenzy caused by the just-concluded U.S. elections. Donald Trump publicly endorsed the crypto industry on several occasions and promised the crypto community a crypto-friendly environment in the U.S. His victory caused Bitcoin to soar to a new all-time high of $77,232.