Dormant Ethereum Whale Moves 145,000 ETH Just Before The Merge: A Selloff or Staking?

An Ethereum whale that has been dormant for about 3 years recently moved a huge amount of the digital token ETH just a few weeks before the Merge that was estimated to play out on the 15th of September.

Per an update by WuBlockchain on Twitter, a certain whale wallet that took part in Ethereum (ETH) Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has transferred out all its holdings to multiple wallets. In 2014, the Ethereum Genesis ICO giant whale wallet obtained 150,000 ETH.

“Ethereum Genesis ICO giant whale 0x4bAf012726CB5EC7Dda57Bc2770798A38100C44d is active again after nearly 3 years of dormancy. Since yesterday, a total of 145,000 ETHs have been transferred out and distributed to multiple wallets,” WuBlockchain tweeted.

In the past two days, a total of 145,000 ETH have been transferred in multiple transactions by the user. It is worth noting that this wallet was last active in July 2019 when the whale sent out 5000 Ethereum coins to Bitfinex.

By then, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $219 but the top cryptocurrency recently hit the $2000 mark as the crypto market is slowly ending its winter season. The surge in the price of ETH could also be attributed to the fast-approaching major upgrade on the Ethereum network, known as the Merge.

The whale wallet currently holds 0.107 ETH only while the total value of the transferred Ether is worth over $280 million at the current price of ETH.

Dumping or Staking?

This 145,000 ETH transfer by the whale address has been met with several speculations from crypto Twitter. While some claim that the Ethereum whale intends to dump these coins, some opine that the user is gearing up for the staking activity that will soon be enabled on the largest smart contract platform.

The Ethereum mainnet Merge with the Beacon Chain which is scheduled for September 19, will transition Ethereum to a PoS network. The ultimate goal is to make the blockchain more scalable and less expensive for users.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, and Google News

Ndianabasi Tom

Ndianabasi Tom joined the crypto and blockchain industry in late 2018. He is an all-rounded crypto journalist and content writer. At TimesTabloid, he covers the industry's latest news, developments, and other educational content. He is a graduate of Petroleum Engineering.