Ethereum ICO Whale Wakes After 10 Years: 0.01 ETH Liquidation Reveals $224.5K Gain

A dormant Ethereum ICO participant made headlines by executing a test transaction involving 0.01 ETH just hours ago, marking the first activity on the wallet in over a decade. The move signals a significant shift in what was once a forgotten hodler’s position.

The Numbers Behind the Comeback

According to Lookonchain’s tracking data released on August 24th, the address “0x7d03” initially purchased 49.93 ETH during Ethereum’s ICO phase with a modest $15.50 investment. Fast forward through ten years of complete inactivity, and that tiny position now carries a market value reaching $240,000—representing an astronomical 15,484x return on the original capital.

The test sale of 0.01 ETH serves as a litmus test, suggesting the holder may be exploring market conditions before executing a larger exit strategy. Given Ethereum’s current trading price hovering around $2.98K, each remaining unit from the ICO stash carries proportional weight.

What This Means for Early Believers

This case perfectly encapsulates the risk-reward dynamic that defined early crypto adoption. Those who managed to secure positions during Ethereum’s 2014 ICO—when skepticism dominated institutional finance—effectively locked in one of the most consequential bets in blockchain history.

The reactivation of such dormant addresses serves as a reminder that early-stage capital deployment in foundational blockchain infrastructure proved dramatically more valuable than traditional investment vehicles over the same timeframe.