A remarkable piece of cryptocurrency history has come to life as one of Ethereum’s original Genesis wallets emerged from nearly a decade of dormancy to move 230 ETH worth approximately $590,823. This extraordinary transaction represents a journey from the token’s humble beginnings when the same amount was valued at just $71 during Ethereum’s initial coin offering in 2014. The wallet activation was captured by Whale Alert, highlighting the incredible appreciation that early Ethereum supporters have witnessed over the past ten years.
The awakening wallet belongs to a select group of 8,893 distinct addresses that received direct allocations from Ethereum’s Genesis block in July 2015. These early adopters, including developers, investors, and project supporters, collectively received about 72 million ETH during the network’s official launch. The reactivated address was among 2,546 wallets that initially held between 100 and 1,000 ETH, making its decade-long silence all the more significant given the substantial value appreciation that occurred during this period.
Such Genesis-era Ethereum wallet awakenings are exceptionally rare events in the cryptocurrency space, comparable to itcoin">Bitcoin addresses from 2010 in terms of scarcity. The rarity of these activations makes them noteworthy milestones that capture the attention of the broader crypto community. The most recent similar event occurred in May 2024, when another dormant pre-mine address transferred 2,153 ETH valued at $5.43 million – tokens that were worth merely $667 back in 2015.
This wallet activation serves as a powerful reminder of Ethereum’s incredible growth trajectory since its ICO period from July to September 2014, when the project raised an estimated 31,000 to 31,500 itcoin">Bitcoin. While dormant itcoin">Bitcoin wallets from the 2011-2017 era occasionally resurface, Genesis Ethereum addresses remain significantly more elusive, making each awakening a fascinating glimpse into the early days of one of cryptocurrency’s most influential projects. The substantial value increase from $71 to nearly $600,000 demonstrates the transformative potential that early blockchain adopters experienced over the past decade.
