After lying dormant for eight long years, an Ether wallet that remained inactive since 2015 has surprisingly sprung to life. In a whirlwind of activity, the wallet transferred a staggering 8,000 ETH within two minutes.
Back To Life
Following its participation in Ethereum’s ICO (initial coin offering) back in 2015, the wallet laid dormant, holding onto 8,000 ETH until May 27, when it became active again. The owner took a careful approach by initiating a preliminary transfer of 1 ETH to a new wallet address.
Meanwhile, the wallet owner swiftly moved the remaining 7,999 ETH to the same wallet with the 1 ETH. At the time of writing, the value of the ETH stash stands at an estimated $14.7 million, indicating a substantial windfall for the wallet’s owner.
The transaction initially caught the attention of Lookonchain, a prominent blockchain analytics platform, who promptly shared the news with their extensive community on Twitter. Crypto Twitter was reportedly rife with discussion over the awakening of the dormant Ether wallet.
When the 8,000 ETH was initially acquired, each token came with an astonishingly low price tag of $0.31, resulting in a modest initial investment of approximately $2,500. Fast forward to the present day, with ETH’s price soaring to $1,917, the wallet’s owner now has a gain of 590,000%.
A Season Of Reawakening
This is not the only Ether wallet from the ICO era that has reawakened; there have been other previous ones. Last month, another dormant wallet, holding 2,365 ETH (equivalent to $4.5 million), sprung back to life after nearly eight years of inactivity.
The wallet’s owner chose to initiate a significant transaction by transferring 2,360 ETH to a freshly generated wallet address, drawing the attention of crypto enthusiasts who marveled at this resurgence in activity. These intriguing occurrences highlight the renewed activeness of long-dormant wallets within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Similarly, an ETH wallet that had slumbered for a remarkable five-year period suddenly became active in March 2023. In this case, the transaction involved a substantial transfer of 10,226 ETH, amounting to $19.6 million, to a new wallet address.
The newly created wallet, devoid of any notable transaction history, had only experienced a single incoming transfer moment before the significant movement of funds. This initial deposit was for 207 ETH, equivalent to a notable $380,000, originating from another wallet that had been dormant since June 12, 2017.
These transactions add an intriguing layer to the unfolding narrative of reawakening wallets within the Ethereum ecosystem. The reactivation of dormant wallets holding substantial amounts of cryptocurrency can be attributed to several reasons.
One possible cause is the unfortunate event of hacking, where unauthorized access prompts a sudden awakening. On the other hand, there are instances when dormant wallets resurface simply due to the owner’s forgetfulness, only to rediscover the details of such wallets at a later time.
