Analysts suggested that the first $ETH were acquired by the address owner back during the initial coin offering (ICO) of Ethereum. Since then, the coins have remained untouched. Arkham reported that the "woken whale" transferred part of the funds to the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. Initially, he made a test transaction of 0.01 $ETH , and then sent 50 ETH to the exchange in two separate transactions, receiving about $95,000. Currently, about 50 ETH remains at the address, worth approximately $102,520.
This is not the first time that early investors, who have been inactive for a long time, have realized significant profits from investments that seemed modest years ago. According to Whale Alert, in December, an address that had been inactive for over 10 years turned its $263 invested in Ethereum ten years ago into $2.8 million. Another case was revealed by analysts at Lookonchain: an unknown user who invested $600 in Ethereum at the ICO increased their 'Ethereum portfolio' to $6.5 million in 2024.
Experts at Arkham announced that inaction and patience are sometimes the best trading strategies that yield results in the volatile digital asset market.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market is in a months-long downturn. Currently, Ethereum is trading above $2140 with a market capitalization of $257.7 billion. This is 56.6% lower than the all-time high of $4953 reached in August 2025. Over the past month, the coin has dropped by 6%.
Earlier, analysts from Standard Chartered Bank suggested that by the end of the year, Ethereum could rise to $7500. However, the bank recently changed its mind and announced that Ethereum could fall to $1400 due to weakening trader sentiment and deteriorating market conditions.