Key takeaways:




A dormant Ethereum wallet from 2015 has recently become active, witnessing a substantial movement of ETH within a brief two-minute timeframe.





The wallet had received 8,000 ETH during Ethereum’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2015 and remained inactive until May 27.




In a surprising twist, an Ethereum (ETH) wallet that had remained dormant since the cryptocurrency’s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2015 recently became active after eight years of inactivity. Within a span of two minutes, the wallet, which had initially acquired 8,000 ETH during the ICO, swiftly transferred its entire balance to a new wallet address.



A small test transaction of 1 ether, equivalent to about $1,845, signalled the wallet’s emergence. The remaining 7,999 ether were promptly transferred to a new address after this initial transfer. The noteworthy element of this transaction is the significant sum exchanged and the owner’s astounding return on investment since the ICO days.



Amidst the intrigue surrounding this sudden activity, there are concerns regarding the underlying motives and the potential implications for the Ethereum market. The Twitter account Look on Chain brought attention to the actions of this Ethereum whale, leading to speculations that it could be an individual transferring their assets from an old Ledger hard wallet.




An Ethereum ICO participant who has been dormant for 8 years woke up today. He transferred all 8000 $ETH ($14.7M) to a new address. https://t.co/1griKB9Te9 pic.twitter.com/1bvQh3zsqY — Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 28, 2023




Last week, Ledger, known for its reputation in secure crypto custody, faced substantial criticism after announcing a new feature called Recover . This feature aimed to serve as a cryptographic backup for users’ seed phrases. However, due to the significant backlash from the community, Ledger has decided to postpone the launch of Recover.



Interestingly, the recent consolidation of funds into a single wallet raises questions as the transferred funds were not sent to a cryptocurrency exchange or sold on-chain. The motive behind this consolidation remains unclear and requires further clarification.



 Moreover, the recipient wallet chosen for the transfer has a limited transaction history, with the only noteworthy activity being the receipt of 207 ether (equivalent to approximately $380,000) in a prior inbound transaction.



Notably, these additional funds originated from a separate wallet that had been dormant since 2017.



Last  month, Lookonchain reported a similar incident.  One of the oldest Bitcoin whales still active has had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market. After resting for ten years , a cryptocurrency wallet transferred 279 bitcoins, totaling $7.8 million, to three new addresses.