Early Ethereum investor awakens $1.5M wallet after a decade

One of Ethereum’s earliest investors reportedly moved a stash worth around $1.5 million today, after originally investing just $104 over a decade ago, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, which has been tracking the wallet.

On-chain data shows the wallet first executed a small test transaction before transferring its 334.7 ETH to a new wallet. The fresh wallet has yet to show any activity, but if the investor decides to cash out, the return would amount to roughly 14,269x at current prices. Notably, the original investing wallet remained inactive following the ETH ICO, which launched in July 2014.

Dormant wallets reactivate as Ethereum gains momentum

Following the incident about the early Ethereum investor, research from sources has revealed that several well-funded wallets that remained dormant for a long time have just recently been activated.

A good example is a Satoshi-era investor who transferred significant funds to approximately $9 billion worth of Bitcoin. Galaxy facilitated the sale, and BTC’s price remained mostly stable following the massive move.

Ether has been on a big run of late, but it’s just getting started, according to Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick. Citing surging institutional demand, favorable regulation, and network upgrades, Kendrick lifted his year-end price target for ETH to $7,500 from $4,000 and his end-2028 target to $25,000 from $7,500. Up more than 50% over the past month, Ether is trading hands just beneath its record high of $4,406.

Alongside, he expects continued outperformance over Bitcoin, forecasting the ETH/BTC ratio to rise to 0.05 from the current 0.039.

The second-largest cryptocurrency has also received a regulatory boost from the passage of the U.S. GENIUS Act in July, which paves the way for mainstream stablecoin adoption. Kendrick noted that more than half of all stablecoins are issued on Ethereum, and these cryptocurrencies already account for 40% of blockchain fees.

BlackRock’s ETHA fund inflows hit headlines after amounting to 338.1 million

Last week, U.S.-based Ethereum ETFs recorded a historic trading volume of roughly $18.2 billion, marking their highest ever. This nearly matched Bitcoin ETFs, which posted a trading volume of about $21.2 billion.

In addition to trading activity, Ethereum funds saw strong weekly inflows of approximately $2.9 billion in new capital. Although the broader ETF market experienced a net outflow of $59.3 million, BlackRock’s ETHA fund, the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF, attracted about $338.1 million in fresh investments.

Analysis from SoSoValue shows that these gains were partially offset by outflows elsewhere, including Fidelity’s FETH at $272.2 million and Grayscale’s ETHE at $101.7 million, along with smaller withdrawals from 21Shares’ CETH, Grayscale’s ETH, and Bitwise’s ETHW.

Still, that day’s inflows marked BlackRock’s ETHA fund success, which lasted ten consecutive days. BlackRock’s ETHA fund currently oversees around $15.7 billion in assets. These assets represent 2.9% of Ethereum’s total market value.

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