Ethereum ICO Whale Returns With $23.7 Million ETH Purchase
An Ethereum wallet linked to an early Ethereum ICO participant returned to the market on Sept. 21, purchasing 8,492.8 ETH for approximately $23.73 million.
The transaction came roughly six months after the same wallet sold 1,923.05 WETH for about $3.87 million in USDC at an average price of $2,010.68 per ETH. The latest purchase therefore marks a significant change in the wallet's recent trading activity.
According to onchain analyst ai_9684xtpa, the wallet, identified as 0xBE42…0c5F, executed four separate stablecoin-to-ETH trades through CowSwap. The transactions were completed within roughly eight minutes.
Four Stablecoin Orders Bought 8,492.8 ETH
The wallet used four different stablecoins to acquire its new ETH position. The individual trades were:
10,049,997.50 DAI for 3,591.36 ETH
4,493,614.20 USDS for 1,611.18 ETH
7,055,997.28 USDC for 2,527.90 ETH
2,125,834.46 USDT for 762.36 ETH
Together, the four transactions totaled approximately $23.73 million and 8,492.8 ETH, producing an average purchase price of about $2,794 per ETH.
The wallet's transaction history can be tracked through CowSwap Explorer, while token-transfer records show the stablecoins leaving the wallet between 15:29 and 15:37 UTC on Sept. 21.
The same session also involved DeFi activity. The wallet repaid roughly 809 WETH of debt on Aave and withdrew approximately 8,876 ETH in collateral. After the transactions, the address held roughly 16,773 ETH, according to the supplied onchain records. The wallet's activity can also be followed through Etherscan wallet records.
The Wallet Dates Back to Ethereum's ICO
The wallet's significance comes from its connection to Ethereum's early history.
The same whale reportedly acquired 38,800 ETH during Ethereum's initial coin offering at approximately $0.31 per ETH. The tokens arrived when the Ethereum network launched in 2015.
At the original ICO price, the 38,800 ETH position cost approximately $12,028. At ETH's recent price levels around $2,800, that original allocation would be worth roughly $108.6 million before considering any ETH previously sold or moved from the wallet.
Early Ethereum wallets attract particular attention from onchain trackers because they can provide a window into the behavior of participants who acquired ETH before the network became a major cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In this case, the notable development is not an early holder selling into strength. Instead, the wallet returned to buying after previously reducing its ETH exposure.
The Whale Previously Sold ETH Near $2,010
The latest purchase follows a transaction from March 27, when the same address sold 1,923.05 WETH for 3,866,637.83 USDC.
The transaction was executed at an average price of approximately $2,010.68 per ETH, while ETH closed that day around $1,992.
That history puts the latest purchase at a considerably higher price. The whale bought its new ETH position at approximately $2,794, around $783 above the price at which it sold the earlier WETH position.
At the ETH price level cited in the source article, the freshly purchased 8,492.8 ETH was approximately $550,000 below its acquisition cost. However, the broader five-day accumulation described in the source remained in profit.
Another Large Entity Accumulates 21,520 ETH
The ICO-era whale was not the only large buyer attracting attention.
Onchain analyst ai_9684xtpa also identified another entity that accumulated approximately 21,520 ETH, worth about $55.8 million, over five consecutive days beginning Sept. 18.
That entity bought ETH at prices ranging from approximately $2,450 to $2,762, with an average acquisition price of around $2,593. At the time of the source report, the position carried roughly $3.25 million in unrealized gains.
Four newly linked addresses also received approximately 6,247.2 ETH during a nine-hour period before the accumulation was identified by onchain researchers.
The activity was reportedly connected to sales of UBTC, Hyperliquid's wrapped Bitcoin, with the proceeds being rotated into ETH.
Bitcoin-to-Ethereum Rotation Adds to the Buying Activity
The pattern resembles another major transaction reported around the same period.
A Hyperliquid whale reportedly exchanged 1,107 BTC for 34,422 ETH, representing a significant rotation from Bitcoin into Ethereum. The source material does not establish that this whale and the entity accumulating 21,520 ETH are the same buyer.
That distinction is important because onchain addresses can sometimes be linked through transaction patterns without proving that the wallets are controlled by the same individual or organization.
Nevertheless, the transactions highlight a period of increased whale activity around ETH as the cryptocurrency moved above $2,700 and approached the $2,800 level.
Bitmine Adds 27,562 ETH to Its Treasury
Large-scale ETH accumulation is also occurring among corporate treasury holders.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced on Sept. 21 that it had purchased another 27,562 ETH, bringing its total holdings to 5,983,940 ETH. The company said its ETH holdings represented approximately 4.9% of the total ETH supply at the time.
Bitmine's latest disclosure put its total crypto, cash and other holdings at approximately $17.1 billion. It also reported 5,067,309 ETH staked.
The company's continued accumulation adds a corporate dimension to the whale activity taking place onchain. While individual wallets and corporate treasuries operate differently, both have been adding to ETH exposure during the recent move higher.
ETH Moves Toward $2,800
The whale transactions occurred as Ethereum strengthened toward the $2,800 level. The supplied source reported ETH at around $2,720 after reaching a local high near $2,800, marking its first move above that level since late January.
Bitcoin also advanced during the same period, reaching approximately $87,395, according to the source material.
The combination of renewed activity from an Ethereum ICO-era wallet, a separate large accumulation of more than 21,000 ETH and continued purchases by Bitmine puts large-holder activity firmly in focus.
For market observers, the key development is the behavior of these wallets rather than any single transaction. The latest activity shows that several large holders were increasing ETH exposure while the asset traded near levels not seen since earlier in the year.
