An early Ethereum (ETH) investor who received 16,636 ETH in 2016 has sold a portion of their holdings, marking an extraordinary return on investment.

According to on-chain data shared by EmberCN, the whale originally acquired the Ethereum for $5.23 per token, totaling $87,135. As of September 16, 2024, that same amount of ETH is worth more than $37.6 million, representing an astonishing 446x increase in value.

Slumbering Trader Makes $819K Profit

The investor, who held onto their Ethereum for nearly eight and a half years, transferred the entire 16,636 ETH to a new wallet before selling 350 ETH at a price of $2,340 per token, realizing a profit of approximately $819,000.

The sale came with the price of ETH hovering around $2,300, down from its recent one-month high of $2,820. However, despite the dip, the whale’s long-term holding strategy has paid off significantly.nTheir transaction comes in the wake of a series of notable Ethereum movements from other dormant wallets.

Recently, several large inoperative addresses have come back to life, with huge amounts of ETH being transferred after years of inactivity. For instance, on August 7, over 789,000 ETH, valued at $2 billion, were moved from wallets that had been asleep for 3.3 years. These wallets were linked to the infamous PlusToken Ponzi scheme dismantled by Chinese authorities in November 2020.

The movement raised curiosity within the crypto community, with many speculating whether the Chinese government was contemplating a move similar to Germany’s when the latter sold nearly 50,000 BTC confiscated from criminal enterprises.

In another instance, a wallet containing over 2,000 ETH, last active during the Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2014, reawakened on August 26 after more than nine years of dormancy. Its contents, originally worth $620, are now valued at more than $5 million.

Long-Term ETH Holders in Profit

At the time of this writing, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap had seen 5.3% shaved off its price in 24 hours.

Across 30 days, the loss is more marked, with ETH prices suffering an 11.8% dip in that period. Additionally, despite a slight 0.2% rise over the last seven days, ETH is underperforming the global crypto market, which is up by at least 1.30%.

That being said, data shows that a majority of those holding the cryptocurrency are still making money. According to IntoTheBlock, 54% of the coin’s owners are in profit at the current price, with 74% holding onto their assets for over a year.