A massive Ethereum ($ETH) initial coin offering (ICO) participant has recently shaken up the cryptosphere after transferring a staggering $116 million in the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization to cryptocurrency Kraken after being dormant for eight years.
The dormant cryptocurrency behemoth received 62,216.5 ETH tokens, now worth roughly $116 million, back in 2015 during Ethereum’s ICO, and now moved them all to a cryptocurrency exchange, presumably to sell the tokens.
Notably, the figure at the heart of this extraordinary transaction, known only by their address, 0x8b5, had been dormant since they initially received the funds, which back in 2015 were worth around $19,000, as each ETH token was then priced at $0.31.
The recent transaction, first reported by blockchain monitoring service SpotOnChain, could mean the whale is locking in gains of over 600,000%, taking into account Ethereum’s current $1,900 price tag.
As CryptoGlobe reported, ), an astonishing 3.46 million ETH tokens valued at well over $6.5 billion, have so far been burned after the launch of the London hard fork on the cryptocurrency’s mainnet.
According to available data, the Ethereum blockchain sees around 146,000 ETH tokens get burned every month, further helping reduce the cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. The London hard fork included the implementation of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, which changed the way transaction fees on the network work.
Earlier this month, a popular cryptocurrency analyst has recently revealed he has optimistic predictions for the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization pointing to a potential upside of nearly 60%.
In a series of tweets shared with their nearly 200,000 followers on the microblogging platform analyst Altcoin Sherpa outlined a potential 59% rise for the second-largest cryptocurrency, which would see it get to the $3,000 mark, ahead of an expected pullback.
Institutional investors are seemingly increasingly turning to cryptocurrencies, as crypto investment products have recently seen a significant influx of funds, with products focusing on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP leading the pack.
Ethereum’s net flows year-to-date remain negative, with investors moving $63 million out of these products so far this year.
Featured image via Unsplash.
