The price of ETH soared by 0.5% in the last 24 hours, reaching the bar of $1,919 after a long-dormant Ethereum ICO participant apparently got rid of $116 million of this token via the trading platform kraken.
Ether is now up 2% in the weekly timeframe and 11% over the last 30 days, with a notable 60% rise since the start of 2023 for the second largest cryptocurrency in the ecosystem by market capitalization.
It would seem that the bullish rally fueled by XRP has allowed the price of Ethereum not to be penalized too much by the massive sale of ETH tokens that have been inactive since the initial days of the ICO. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that such a large sale and in this precise context represents a negative sign for the short or even medium term horizon.
On the other hand, Ethereum remains one of the strongest cryptocurrencies on the market in terms of fundamentals, so the price of ETH will most certainly be called to rise again sooner or later.
Ethereum Price Predictions: ICO Participant Dumps $116 Million in ETH After 8 Years of Inactivity
Technical indicators for ETH suggest the cryptocurrency may post some gains in the days ahead, especially with its relative strength index (in purple) which has just exceeded the score of 50 and could even head towards 60 in the more or less near future.
This phenomenon thus suggests a bullish rally for ETH, however the token will need to reverse the trend linked to its 30 day moving average (in yellow) before you can actually prepare for significant gains.
To be quite exact, ETH appears to have completed a mini-correction that reportedly started over the weekend, when the market euphoria over Ripple’s decision died down slightly. The price of ETH is unlikely to fall further in the short term, as its support level (in green) has held up very well over the past week.
Although some observers and analysts may consider the news of inactive ETH as a potential alarm, it should also be considered rather positive that an investor was able to sell more than $116 million in ETH without having a massive impact on the price of the altcoin.
The funds in question, approximately ETH 61,216have been held in an inactive crypto wallet for almost 8 yearsor at the time of Ethereum ICO in 2015.
Why were these tokens transferred at this time rather than at the time of the 2021 bull market ? This question will undoubtedly remain a mystery, however analysts have suggested that even if ETH was sent to the platform krakenthey were not actually sold.
Indeed, someone put forward the possibility that the ETH were sent to the platform in order to be placed in a staking protocol, which is quite possible (as long as the holder is not based in the United States).
And given that there has been no clear indication or evidence that ETH has been sold off (including any significant drop in price), the possibility of staking should not be discounted. In both cases, a major sell-off does not change Ethereum’s status as one of the most important cryptocurrencies and the best valued in the entire market.
Not only Ethereum represents more than 50% of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, but its transition to a mechanism Proof-of-Stake (PoS) has made it more interesting as a crypto-asset for investors.
We also observe that staking has removed more than 24 million ETH from circulation, which has made the token rarer within the crypto market and will most certainly have a positive effect on the price of Ether in the long term.
On the other hand, the introduction of burning costs also had the effect of making ETH deflationary during peak traffic times, meaning its overall supply has been shrinking since September.
Thus, ETH is becoming an increasingly attractive investment for the entire crypto market, and considering its rapid growth as a platform Layer 1 using the technology of smart contractsit seems clear that everyone who wants to have a portfolio of diversified investments in the crypto sector should own ETH tokens.
The market can therefore expect to see ETH continue to grow over the medium to long term horizon, and a possible return above the $2,000 mark is possible in the next weeks.
By the end of 2023, positive growth coupled with favorable global conditions could even pull the price of ETH above $2,500 or $3,000before a potential bull market for 2024.