Ethereum ICO participant awakes after 7.7 years of dormancy

A long-dormant Ethereum address that participated in the blockchain's initial coin offering, or ICO, awoke after 7.7 years.

It transferred one ether to a new address — which some speculate indicates a test transaction — in block 17110898, timestamped more than 10 hours ago. This was the wallet's first sent transaction.

The wallet in question received 2,365 ether — worth approximately $4.42 million today — at Ethereum's genesis, on-chain analysis account Lookonchain noted.

One ether cost roughly $0.31 during Ethereum's ICO. Today's ether price is currently $1860.

Old crypto addresses are waking up

After a lengthy dormancy, the Ethereum ICO participant's activity follows a pair of similar transactions from old bitcoin whale addresses.

On April 21, a bitcoin whale that had been inactive for a decade transferred 279 bitcoins — worth $7.8 million at the time of the transaction — to three new addresses.

That transaction came a day after another long-dormant bitcoin whale transferred 2,071.5 BTC — worth $60.7 million — after nine years of inactivity.

While the specific reasons for the moves remain unknown, speculation exists that some long-time crypto users are moving old funds to new wallets amid a claimed wallet-draining operation allegedly targeting old wallets — though substantiated details remain scarce.

This story has been updated with information about other recent transactions from old crypto addresses.