Whales Selling Ethereum? 10-Year Dormant ETH Holder Moves $23M As Tom Lee’s Bitmine Buying Continues

Key Takeaways

• A long-dormant Ethereum ICO wallet moved 10,000 ETH after nearly 11 years.

• Bitmine continues aggressive ETH accumulation.

• Derivatives volume far exceeding spot trading suggests increased leverage.

Large Ethereum holders are reshuffling billions of dollars worth of tokens, with a long-dormant “whale” wallet reactivating alongside fresh institutional flows, highlighting a tug-of-war between profit-taking and accumulation.

On-chain data flagged by analytics platform Lookonchain shows an Ethereum ICO participant moving a massive stash for the first time in over a decade, while a wallet linked to crypto venture firm Fenbushi Capital appears to be locking in gains.

At the same time, Tom Lee’s Bitmine continues to aggressively accumulate in the march towards its 5% holdings target.

Dormant ICO Whale Resurfaces

A wallet identified as “0xCD59,” which participated in Ethereum’s 2014 initial coin offering (ICO), transferred its entire holdings of 10,000 ETH — worth roughly $22.9 million — to a new address after 10.8 years of inactivity, Lookonchain said in a post on X.

The investor originally spent about $3,100 to acquire the tokens, representing a massive return of more than 7,000 times the initial investment.

Such long-dormant movements are closely watched in crypto markets because they can signal potential selling pressure.

Early adopters, often sitting on outsized gains, may choose to realize profits after years of holding, particularly during periods of price recovery.

While the transfer does not confirm an imminent sale, moving funds to a fresh wallet often precedes further steps such as portfolio restructuring.

Fenbushi-Linked Wallet Signals Profit-Taking

Separately, a wallet linked to Fenbushi Capital withdrew 3,063 ETH (around $7.1 million) from decentralized lending platform Aave and transferred the funds to Binance, according to Lookonchain.

The same wallet had received the Ethereum from Binance roughly a month earlier, when prices were near $2,017.

With Ethereum now trading around $2,330, the move implies an unrealized gain of approximately $969,000.

Transfers from DeFi protocols to centralized exchanges are often interpreted as a sign of potential selling or liquidity repositioning.

Market participants frequently move assets to exchanges when preparing to convert holdings into stablecoins, redeploy capital, or secure profits.

“Dump dump dump,” wrote on X user.

Institutional Buying Offsets Selling Pressure

The whale and venture capital movements come as Tom Lee’s Bitmine continues to aggressively accumulate Ethereum.

On Wednesday, Lookonchain said Bitmine recently acquired another 45,000 ETH — worth approximately $103.5 million — through over-the-counter trades facilitated by FalconX and BitGo.

The latest purchase comes alongside a broader strategy to lock up a significant portion of its holdings, further tightening available supply.

The company has so far committed roughly 3.5 million ETH — valued at about $8 billion — to staking, accounting for just over 70% of its total holdings.

Staking, which involves committing tokens to help validate transactions on the network in return for yield, is expected to generate a pre-tax return of around 2.79%, Lee said previously.

Ethereum Winter Ending?

The latest purchase also comes after recent predictions from Tom Lee that Ethereum is either at, or very near, a cyclical bottom.

In March, Lee highlighted analysis from market technician Tom DeMark, who sees similarities between Ethereum’s recent price action and major equity market drawdowns such as the 2011 U.S. debt ceiling crisis.

According to Lee, Ethereum’s pattern shows a high degree of correlation with those historical episodes and claimed the worst of the decline may already have passed.

“If those analogues hold, ETH likely either bottomed in early March or is bottoming now,” Lee said.

Rising Ethereum Risk Appetite, Says Analyst

Despite mixed signals from spot markets, derivatives data suggests traders are positioning for volatility and potential upside.

According to CCN analyst Abiodun Oladokun, Ethereum’s perpetual futures volume has significantly outpaced spot trading activity on Binance.

As of April 27, perpetual volume reached 4.47 million ETH compared with just 300,000 ETH in the spot market, indicating a derivatives-driven environment.

The resulting volume imbalance of 0.89 points to increased reliance on leveraged positions, a trend often associated with heightened risk appetite and sharper price swings.

Ethereum was trading around $2,278 at the time of writing, with analysts identifying support near $2,160 and resistance around the $2,480 level.

A break in either direction could determine the next phase of price action.

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