Ethereum ICO Whale Awakens After 8 Years: $6M ETH to Kraken
An anonymous wallet tied to Ethereum’s 2014 ICO which raised $18.3M by selling 60M+ ETH at $0.31 each has resurfaced after nearly eight years of dormancy.
The address (0x60dd…932) originally received 20,000 ETH for ~$6,220 at genesis in 2015. On October 28, it transferred 1,500 ETH $6M at current prices to Kraken, marking its first exchange deposit ever.
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 19 (Feb 9 – May 2, 2026): big discounts for early bird.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and co-invest in great global startups.
Register for Tekedia AI Lab: From Technical Design to Deployment (next edition begins Jan 24 2026).
Remaining Holdings: 18,500 ETH ~$80M, yielding a staggering 12,971x return on the original investment. Deposits to exchanges like Kraken often precede sales or trades, potentially adding short-term selling pressure on ETH.
However, this whale’s partial move just 7.5% of holdings suggests conviction in ETH’s long-term value, especially as other ICO-era wallets have stirred recently. No immediate price impact observed, with ETH down ~1% in the last 24 hours.
This isn’t isolated—similar “zombie” wallets have dumped $116M+ in past cycles, but today’s ETH highs ~$4K make it a lucrative exit for early visionaries. X users are buzzing about the irony: from $6K to $86M total value unlocked.
Sequans Communications: $111M BTC Transfer to Coinbase—Sale or Shuffle?
Nasdaq-listed semiconductor firm Sequans (SQNS), a “Bitcoin treasury” adopter since July 2025, moved 970 BTC ~$111M to Coinbase Prime on October 28—its first major outbound transaction.
The firm raised $384M via debt/equity to build a BTC stack, initially holding 3,234 BTC ~$364M. Remaining holdings is 264 BTC ~$255M, ranking it 32nd among corporate BTC treasuries behind MicroStrategy’s 640K+ BTC.
Transfers to Coinbase don’t confirm sales—institutions often use it for custody, OTC trades, or yield optimization to avoid market slippage. Sequans’ stock has dropped 27% since its BTC pivot, amid broader skepticism on crypto exposure.
No price dip in BTC followed with Bitcoin currently trading around $111,766 with volumes down 11% to $163 billion 24 hours trading according to CoinGecko’s aggregator. This fits a trend of firms like Tesla and MicroStrategy treating BTC as a hedge, but the move raises eyebrows: Is it liquidity for ops, or trimming amid volatility? Total corporate BTC holdings now ~4M 5.7% of supply.
SharpLink Gaming: $200M ETH to Linea for DeFi Yields
Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming (SBET), the #2 corporate ETH holder with 859K ETH $3.57B, 0.71% of supply, announced a multi-year plan to deploy $200M ETH ~50K ETH on Consensys’ Linea L2 network.
This is the largest public corporate DeFi play to date, via partners ether.fi liquid staking and restaking and EigenCloud’s AVS security. Phased rollout for “productive” treasury management, including future tokenized equity and programmable liquidity tools.
SharpLink, a Linea Consortium member sees Linea’s scalability as key for institutional DeFi. Bullish for L2 adoption—adds liquidity without selling, contrasting whale dumps. Echoes ETHZilla’s $100M ether.fi move in September.
X chatter calls it “TradFi going degen,” with $EIGEN up on restaking hype despite some OKX transfers. SharpLink’s yield hunt offsets whale/treasury outflows, signaling Ethereum’s maturing as an institutional asset staking > holding. BTC’s corporate wave continues, but with caution.
Whale sales could pressure ETH short-term; Sequans’ move might preview more BTC trims if stocks lag. Watch for on-chain flows to Kraken/Coinbase; Linea TVL spikes. These moves underscore crypto’s shift from speculation to treasury tools—early ICO wins fund the next wave.