Dormant Ethereum Whale Awakens After 10 Years – and Stakes $120M Instead of Selling

• A long-dormant Ethereum whale resurfaced after 10 years, staking all 40,000 of its ICO-era ETH rather than offloading it on an exchange. 
• The move, around US$120M, contrasts with other early Ethereum holders, two of whom recently began selling large portions of their long-held tokens.
• 10 out of 12 valuation models suggest Ethereum is currently undervalued, with one model indicating its fair price should be around US$9,400.

A long-dormant Ethereum (ETH) wallet moved 40,000 tokens into staking after nearly a decade of inactivity, rather than sending funds to an exchange to sell.

The address received the 40,000 ETH during Ethereum’s 2015 genesis sale for roughly US$12,000 (AU$18,360). That stash is now worth about US$120M (AU$183.6M), according to on-chain data. All of it was redeployed into staking, indicating the holder is opting for yield and long-term exposure instead of taking profit.

The move comes as several other early Ether holders have been selling. One ICO-era wallet that accumulated 254,908 ETH began liquidating on Nov. 26, first offloading 20,000 ETH and then continuing to sell until only about US$9.3M (AU$14.23M) in ETH remained as of Saturday.

Another veteran address that built up 154,076 ETH starting in 2017 recently sent 18,000 ETH to crypto exchange Bitstamp, after previously selling 87,824 ETH at an average price of US$1,694 (AU$2,591.82).

Back in August, an Ethereum whale network known as the 7 Siblings sold US$88M (AU$135M) in ETH over a 15 hour span.

Related: Kalshi Goes Onchain With Solana in Bid to Challenge Polymarket

Is Ethereum Undervalued?

Ethereum is currently trading at US$3K (AU$4.5K), a 32% decrease in the last 3 months and 39.4% from its ATH in August, when it peaked at nearly US$4.95K (AU$7.5K).

But 10 out of 12 valuation models have suggested Ethereum is currently undervalued, according to Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant. One model said that ETH is undervalued by over 200% and should have a fair price of US$9.4K (AU$14K).

Read more: China’s Central Bank Reasserts Crypto Ban, Warns Stablecoins Pose Major Financial Risks

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