An early adopter who participated in the 2015 ETH ICO recently moved 48,500 ETH to a new Ethereum address, according to a tweet. 

The whale address acquired 1 million ETH at the price of $0.311 per coin during the ICO and transferred 48,500 ETH, worth about $154 million, to OKX Deposit over the past 30 days.

The tweet added, “The address still holds 15,600 ETH, and this whale address cluster might hold a total of 682,000 ETH, worth approximately $1.756 billion.”

This whale’s movements are notable both for the vast size of the wallet balance and the potential market implications such significant transfers will cause.

The market impact of large ETH transfers can vary. However, transactions by early adopters tend to have a more significant effect on market sentiment and price dynamics due to their perceived market influence and expertise.

Defunct Exchange, Genesis, Transfers $500 Million And Ethereum Drops By 5%

A notable illustration of the market impact of substantial transactions is the scenario that played out following the transfer of significant assets by the now-defunct cryptocurrency lender Genesis. 

Specifically, the movement of approximately 16.6K BTC (valued at around $1.1 billion) and 166.3K ETH (worth around $521.1 million) caused the price of ETH to fall from $3,200 to $2,964, losing over 6% at the time of the incident.

MtGox Transfers $2.71B; Bitcoin Drops

Another notable market-moving event occurred when an erstwhile cryptocurrency exchange MtGox initiated a substantial transfer of 47,229 BTC, valued at approximately $2.71 billion at the time of the transaction, to an alternative wallet, thereby causing a significant ripple effect in the market.

The movements of the Mt. Gox wallet triggered a market sell-off, resulting in a 5-7% decrease in Bitcoin’s price after the transfer. In addition, the price dip led to liquidation of futures and options contracts in the derivative markets.

The defunct exchange made the huge transfer some weeks after it announced, through rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, its plan to start repaying investors in July 2024. The affected customers will receive their repayments in both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Similar to the market impact observed during its 2011 bankruptcy announcement, the news of MtGox’s July Repayment Plan also had a significant effect on market sentiment and dynamics. The announcement caused the value of BTC to drop from $63k to $61k.