Nine-Year Dormant ETH Whale Moves $250M Worth Ether to Gemini: On-chain Data

An Ethereum whale address that had been inactive for 9 years moved 85,000 ETH (nearly $250 million) entirely to the Gemini exchange on Tuesday.

Per blockchain sleuth EmberCN, the whale wallet “0xb5a…168d6” bought and accumulated 135,000 ETH at $90 each via Bitfinex in 2017. The holdings were worth $12.17 million at the time.

休眠 9 年时间的 ETH 巨鲸地址，今天凌晨完成清仓：把剩余的 8.5 万枚 ETH ($2.48 亿) 也全部转进了 Gemini 交易所。
9 年时间，一买一卖，盈利 $3.81 亿 (32 倍)。

◎9 年前 (2017 年)，通过 Bitfinex 以 $90 的价格提出并囤积 13.5 万枚 ETH，当时价值 $1217 万。
◎9… https://t.co/tGv60P9Qf5 pic.twitter.com/7RDDw8R2mU

— 余烬 (@EmberCN) January 27, 2026

After 9 years, the whale transferred all its ETH holdings, now worth $393 million, to Gemini in just over a day.

Mass ETH Transfers to Gemini

Arkham data shows that the address made 50,000 ETH transfer on Monday, following a 25,000 ETH transaction early this week. Further, the whale moved the remaining 60.283K ether to Gemini, which alone was worth $175.23 million. Now, the address holds around $70 worth of various altcoins.

EmberCN post read that the whale profited nearly $381 million, a 32x return, from holding the coin for 9 years.

The mass transfers come a week after a Bitcoin wallet moved 909 BTC, now worth over $84 million, to a new address after more than 12 years of dormancy.

Ethereum Risks Drifting Toward Lower End – Analyst

ETH has been in the red over the week, slumping more than 7% to below $2,800 mark. The crypto has rebounded and is now trading at $2,934 at press time.

The lower moves reflect heavy ETF-related selling, which has cooled the momentum, keeping ETH capped below the $3,000 mark. However, on-chain activity reveals that daily active addresses have climbed toward 1.3 million.

Further, staking participation continues to rise, tightening the circulating supply. For instance, in total, Tom Lee’s BitMine has staked 2,218,771 ETH (worth $6.52 billion), over 52% of its total holdings. This includes its recent staking of 209,504 ETH (worth $610 million) today.

That said, Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone has flagged that Ethereum risks drifting downward toward the lower boundary of its long-standing trading range.

In a post on X, he noted that Ether appears to be heading toward the lower end of its $2,000-$4,000 range since 2023.

“I see greater risks of it staying below $2,000 than above $4,000, especially when stock market volatility rebounds.”

Ether appears to be heading toward the lower end of its $2,000-$4,000 range since 2023. I see greater risks of it staying below $2,000 than above $4,000, especially when stock market volatility rebounds. pic.twitter.com/1IAMV10Jwe

— Mike McGlone (@mikemcglone11) January 25, 2026