Concerns often rise when an early crypto whale begins moving funds, but in this case, the holder used the activity to deepen their commitment to the Ethereum network.
Another long-dormant Ethereum wallet has reactivated after nearly a decade. Instead of selling, the whale transferred its entire balance into staking.
According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, the wallet contains 40,000 Ether (ETH), originally purchased for around $12,000 during Ethereum’s 2015 genesis sale. That same amount is now valued at approximately $120 million.
Rather than sending the funds to a crypto exchange, the ICO-era holder staked all 40,000 ETH — a move that signals strong continued confidence in Ethereum’s long-term potential.
Activity among other early ETH whales
Recent weeks have seen rising speculation about whales influencing price volatility. Several long-time Ether holders have begun selling, while others have opted to stake.
One early investor who accumulated 254,908 ETH during the ICO began offloading tokens on Nov. 26. The whale initially sold 20,000 ETH and continued trimming their position, leaving around $9.3 million worth of ETH by Saturday.
Another early adopter who collected 154,076 ETH starting in 2017 sent 18,000 ETH to the exchange Bitstamp after previously selling more than 87,000 ETH at an average price of $1,694.
An additional large ICO-era wallet that became active in September after eight years of inactivity also chose to stake part of its holdings. That wallet originally purchased 1 million ETH during the genesis sale and later moved 150,000 ETH into a new staking-designated address.
Top ETH holders continue to accumulate
Despite some selling from older wallets, the largest Ethereum addresses remain in accumulation mode. Data from Glassnode shows the top 1% of ETH addresses now control 97.6% of the supply, up from 96.1% a year ago.
The Eth2 Beacon Deposit Contract holds the largest amount of Ether — 72.4 million ETH, worth roughly $203 billion and representing around 60% of total supply, according to Arkham.
Binance is the second-largest holder with about 4 million ETH, while asset manager BlackRock ranks third with 3.9 million ETH.
