A long-dormant Ethereum Wallet containing 2,000 ETH from the genesis era of the blockchain has suddenly shown signs of activity after over 8 years of inactivity. 

According to Whale Alert, a service dedicated to tracking large cryptocurrency transactions, this wallet address received its original stash of ETH back in 2015 during the Ethereum ICO and has been inactive since, until just recently. 

At today’s exchange rate, the 2,000 ETH held in the wallet are worth approximately $3.2 million. However, back when the wallet owner first acquired the coins, they were only worth around $620 total. 

This means the owner has seen an astronomical return on their initial investment of over 500x in the 8 years since.

According to blockchain analysis firm Lookonchain on X, the wallet address swiftly moved the 2,000 ETH coins across four new wallet addresses after waking up from its long slumber. 

Lookonchain speculates that the original wallet owner likely pre-mined the 2,000 ETH during Ethereum’s genesis and has finally decided to access their funds after years of waiting.

The sudden movement of such a large amount of ETH from the early days of Ethereum has sparked speculation throughout the crypto community. 

A similar incident occurred on May, 2023, when another dormant ether wallet received 8,000 ETH after being inactive since 2015. The wallet was said to have participated in Ethereum’s ICO 8 years ago and had remained inactive until May.

Also read: Ethereum Layer 2 zkEVM Scroll Launches On Mainnet