Early Ethereum ICO Participant Sells $79M in ETH Amid Market Downturn

The on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain recently reported that an early Ethereum (ETH) initial coin offering (ICO) participant has been selling large portions of ETH over the past week. The sell-off comes amid the recent drop in ETH price and the broader crypto market.

ICO Participant Offloads $79M in ETH

Lookonchain noted that the whale sold 19,000 ETH, valued at around $47.5 million, over the last two days. The sell-off follows a series of transactions that began in late September, when more than 12,000 ETH, worth $31.6 million at the time, was moved to the Kraken exchange.

This #Ethereum ICO participant sold another 19,000 $ETH($47.54M) in the past 2 days!

The participant received 150K $ETH(ICO cost was $46.5K, now worth $358M) at #GENESIS.https://t.co/WbaTNzh5T4 pic.twitter.com/p82RcPRYMd

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) October 3, 2024

Lookonchain reported that the wallet initially received 150,000 ETH during the 2014 Ethereum ICO, a stash then worth just $46,500 but now valued at over $350 million.

ETH Faces FUD as Price Declines

Ethereum faces fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) as its price slides, and a large-scale ETH holder offloads its asset. ETH prices have taken a steep hit, dropping nearly 10% since the start of October. 

The leading altcoin traded at around $2,650 on October 1 but dropped to $2,365 on October 3, representing a 3.7% decline in a single day, exceeding the 2.6% drop in the broader crypto market’s total capitalization.

An X user, “@cozypront,” has expressed frustration over Ethereum’s recent underperformance and its impact on the broader crypto market, stating that it has shown little growth or innovation lately.

“Ethereum doing nothing these days but dragging crypto even lower,” @cozypront stated.

However, some Ethereum advocates remain optimistic. For instance, Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano remarked that the ongoing FUD is “neverending.”

Similarly, Ryan Sean Adams from Bankless pointed out Ethereum’s growing ecosystem, noting that the network has produced nine chains, generating over $140 million in profit over the past year.

Actually wild.

Ethereum has already produced 9 chains with gross profit. Over $140m in profit over the 12 months.

Each chain is an economy.

Ethereum is a federated union of economies with ETH as money.

Bullish ETH.
Bullish Ethereum.

The new land of opportunity. pic.twitter.com/L5qY9efprb

— RYAN SΞAN ADAMS – rsa.eth 🦄 (@RyanSAdams) October 2, 2024

Furthermore, institutional interest is growing again. The nine spot Ethereum ETFs recorded an inflow of nearly $20 million on Oct. 2, mainly driven by BlackRock, marking the largest weekly inflow since launch. 

In contrast, Bitcoin ETFs saw $53 million in outflows over the same period.