In the 8-year history of Ethereum, there have been multiple mysteries that have made their way to the mainstream. However, one of the most popular of these is an ETH wallet that participated in the Ethereum ICO back in 2014 which has not seen any kind of activity since then.
Dormant Ethereum ICO Wallet Stumps Investors
In February 2023, X (formerly Twitter) user @jconorgrogan took to the platform to reveal a curious Ethereum wallet. This wallet, according to Conor, was the only ETH wallet that had participated in the ICO in 2015 and had not carried out any transactions since then.
The mystery behind the wallet further grew when community members discovered that it was carrying a total of 250,000 ETH. Records show that the wallet had bought this massive stash of ETH in 2014 for $75,000 and the value of the investment has since appreciated to over $470 million. Yet it has not been claimed, nor has the owner sold any coins.
One of the most mysterious addresses in all of crypto:
-Bought $75k worth of ETH at the ICO in ’14
-Completely untouched wallet; has never made a single transaction
-Wallet now worth $400M+, a 5333x
-Received $6.5M in airdrops just by hodling (a 87x on initial investment alone) pic.twitter.com/wBpw9pQcAB— Conor (@jconorgrogan) February 26, 2023
Not only had the wallet seen its initial investment grow exponentially, but it had also made millions of dollars in airdrops alone. Conor revealed that the wallet had received upwards of $6.5 million in airdrops, which, on its own, was already an 87x return on the original investment.
Following this first post, there were a number of theories for what might have made the investor not move any of the coins. These ranged from losing the private keys to the holder probably dying or in prison. However, Conor has finally uncovered the real story behind this wallet.
Estonian Banking Magnate Loses Keys To ETH Wallet
Nine months after the initial tweet was made, Conor provided an update with an answer to who owns the $470 million ETH wallet and why they had not made any transactions. Like many speculated, it was actually a case of lost keys but the owner of the wallet was even more interesting.
Conor posted a screenshot of an interview with the founder of Estonian LHV Bank, Rain Lohmus, where he admitted that he had actually lost access to his Ethereum wallet holding 250,000 ETH. However, Lohmus doesn’t seem too phased by this given that he said he had not really tried to recover the wallet.
One mystery solved: This address (which now holds $450M of crypto) belongs to Rain Lohmus, founder of LHV Bank
Unfortunately he lost his keys and can’t access these 100s of millions. If you can help him recover them somehow, he’s willing to split them with you https://t.co/wYLAU9gKzb pic.twitter.com/0A1nIjFSyn
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) November 6, 2023
The LHV Bank founder also revealed that he is unable to solve the issue and get back his ETH. So he is open to sharing offers from anyone who believes that they will be able to access the wallet. On his own though, Lohmus’ plan is “to build Rain Lohmus as an AI and see if he can get his memories back.”
Nevertheless, the millionaire doesn’t seem too disturbed by this. “I don’t like things that result in zero or one. You can spend ten years on it, and it might end up with zero; it might end up with you solving a problem, but I prefer to do things where progress is visible on a daily basis.”