ICO‑Era Whale Purchases 8,493 ETH at $2,794 Amid Rising Ethereum Price

A wallet identified as an early Ethereum ICO participant executed a large purchase of Ether on Sept. 21, swapping $23.73 million in stablecoins for 8,492.8 ETH at an average price of $2,794 per coin.

Trade Details

The purchase was carried out through four consecutive Cow Swap orders, each filling completely:

• 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

The stablecoins left the wallet between 15:29 and 15:37 UTC on the same day. In the same session the wallet repaid roughly 809 WETH of debt on Aave and withdrew about 8,876 ETH of collateral, bringing its total holdings to approximately 16,773 ETH.

Historical Context

The address (0xBE42…0c5F) originally subscribed to 38,800 ETH during Ethereum’s 2015 ICO at roughly $0.31 per token, a cost of about $12,000. At current price levels that stake would be valued near $106 million.

Market Impact

Hours after the whale’s purchase, ETH briefly traded above $2,800, reaching $2,807 – the first price above that level since Jan. 30, 2026. A separate cluster of addresses accumulated 21,520 ETH between Sept. 18 and Sept. 22, buying at an average of $2,593 per ETH and now showing roughly $3.25 million in unrealized gains.

Broader Activity

Corporate treasuries are also active; Bitmine added 27,562 ETH last week, representing about 4.9 % of total ETH supply. Meanwhile, spot ether ETFs saw net redemptions of $140 million in the week preceding Sept. 18, highlighting the role of large private wallets in the recent rally. Bitcoin’s price moved in tandem, climbing to $87,395.