 
 
An ancient Ethereum whale recently made headlines by moving a chunk of their holdings in the second-largest cryptocurrency after nine years of inactivity. Traders view such transactions as signals of long-dormant coins entering circulation.
Sleeping Ether Whale Stirs After 9 Years
The unknown whale woke up on Sunday after 12 years of dormancy to move 50,000 ETH — worth around $146 million at current prices — to a Gemini wallet.
The wallet, identified as “0xb5…Fb168D6”, first shifted 25,000 ETH earlier on Jan. 25 before moving another 25,000 ETH hours later, blockchain data platform EmberCN revealed in a post on X, citing data from Arkham Intelligence.
The shift to a new address could be routine security hygiene, a change of custody, or the first step toward eventual liquidation.
According to EmberCN, the whale had been dormant since 2017, when it withdrew roughly 135,000 ETH (valued at $12.17 million) from Bitfinex exchange, when Ether was trading hands at just $90. Even after Sunday’s transfers, the wallet address still holds another 85,283 ETH, worth $244 million.
 
OG Whales Are Waking Up
It’s the latest in a string of resurfacing crypto whales. As ZyCrypto reported last week, an early investor who bought BTC between December 2012 and April 2013 moved 909 BTC, worth around $85 million, after a 13-year slumber.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ether extended a weeklong pullback on Sunday amid fears of a potential United States government shutdown.
The world’s oldest and largest crypto shed 0.7% over the past 24 hours to hover around $87,873, while ETH tumbled 1.5% to $2,894, according to CoinGecko data.
The broader sentiment in crypto reflects this wary tone. U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have posted roughly $1.7 billion in net outflows in an uninterrupted five-day negative streak.
Looking ahead, pundits believe macro developments remain the key driver. Traders will be closely watching whether this week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision and U.S. producer price index data can be enough to help Bitcoin and other major tokens break out of the doldrums.