Less than 48 hours after the price of Ethereum (ETH) slipped below the crucial $4,000 level, strange things are taking place on the market. Two Ethereum wallets owned by early adopters of the asset, with dormancy over the past eight years, have been reactivated. The move mirrors that of another early investor who transferred 2,086 ETH less than 10 days ago.
Whale wallets move $785 million in ETH after years of silence
Notably, as spotted by Lookonchain, an on-chain platform on X, these two wallets belong to dormant whales that bought ETH very early. However, in the past eight years, these wallets have not carried out any transactions.
The owners likely considered the assets as long-term investments left to appreciate over the years. According to the insights, the Ethereum stash was originally acquired from Bitfinex, one of the early exchanges on the crypto market.
However, Ethereum whales have now transferred 200,000 ETH valued at approximately $785 million to two new addresses. The movement has caught the attention of the Ethereum community, sparking concerns of possible intentions behind the whale’s transactions.
Although it was not moved to an exchange, the sheer size of the transfer has fueled rumors of a possible over-the-counter sale. Such a move amid Ethereum’s current downward movement could trigger a further slip in the price. However, if the whale was just reorganizing their portfolio, the concern created by its resurfacing would fizzle out.
It is worth mentioning that the owner of the wallets is deeply invested in Ethereum. Despite the 200,000 ETH moved in the current transaction, the OG still has 736,316 ETH valued at $2.89 billion spread across eight other wallets.
With such a large investment in the second-ranked crypto asset, the whale is one of the biggest anonymous HODLers. It is unlikely that they will be dumping on the market anytime soon.
Market reaction and outlook for Ethereum
As of press time, Ethereum is changing hands at $3,936.55, representing a 1.96% decline in the last 24 hours. The coin dropped from an intraday peak of $4,021.79 to a low of $3,829.01 before rebounding to its current level.
The rebound move was likely triggered by investors taking advantage of the dip to accumulate ETH. Trading volume has registered an uptick of 9.88% to $59.5 billion within the same time frame.
Interestingly, there are predictions of possible intense volatility with Ethereum in the coming days. It remains to be seen if the current spike in volume could reverse the situation. Market participants will keep a keen eye on technical signals.