Pre-mined Ethereum, which had been dormant for nearly eight years and is currently worth about $116 million, was suddenly moved. The transaction raises questions about the potential market impact and whether it will trigger a significant drop in the price of Ethereum.

Eight years ago, during the Ethereum pre-mine, wallets accumulated a total of 61,216 ETH. At the time, the token was worth about $18,976, but due to Ethereum’s exponential growth, its value has now increased more than a thousand times.

wake up from hibernation

The ETH in question was stored in a wallet address that had remained unchanged since pre-mining. But in a surprising move, all 61,216 ETH were transferred to an address associated with the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. The transfer marked the end of eight years of dormancy.

Back in June 2014, the Ethereum network held a unique sale that gave early team members and co-founders the opportunity to accumulate pre-mined ETH, as the network had not yet begun generating tokens on its own.

At this time, ETH was trading at $0.31, so the value of this batch of 61,216 ETH was estimated to be $18,976. Fast forward to today, and the value of these tokens has skyrocketed to approximately $116.9 million.

The massive increase in ETH prices over the years highlights the massive growth and adoption of the Ethereum network. As such, the recent movement of this significant ETH stash has piqued the interest of the crypto community, which is eager to understand the potential impact of this action.

Is Ethereum about to drop sharply?

Typically, large transfers of cryptocurrency to exchanges can indicate an intent to sell, which can put downward pressure on prices if the amounts sold are large compared to total trading volume.

However, it’s worth noting that not all large deposits coming into exchanges mean the cryptocurrency being moved is likely to fall, as the person or entity moving the ETH may not sell it immediately, or may decide to sell it gradually to minimize market impact.

In addition, it is worth analyzing how the whale ended up depositing its pre-mined ETH on the exchange. Etherscan data verified the transaction, which took place on July 18. The transfer operation involved $116.9 million in ETH and required a negligible fee of $1.68 and a gas price of 25.475673161 Gwei.

The identity of the wallet owner remains a mystery, and their cautious approach is noteworthy as they ensured to avoid human errors that could lead to significant losses. They first sent a small test transaction of 0.05 ETH to the Kraken address before transferring the entire transaction.

The transaction also highlights the value of HODL-ling, a strategy that emphasizes long-term accumulation of crypto tokens. It underscores how patience can lead to big gains in the volatile crypto world.

Nonetheless, Ethereum prices have risen 0.7% over the past 24 hours, suggesting that whales may not have taken any action on their deposited ETH yet. As of writing, the second-largest asset is currently trading at $1,910 with a 24-hour trading volume of $7.4 billion.