Wallet with past dealings with Ethereum Foundation offloads $12 million in ETH amid price momentum: on-chain analyst

A wallet that previously dealt with the Ethereum Foundation has sold at least 2,795 ETH, valued at about $12.7 million, as ether prices surged to yearly highs.

Onchain data analytics provider Lookonchain reported that the wallet "0xF39…E4B" offloaded 1,695 ETH at around $4,556 for 7.72 million DAI late Tuesday night. Then about an hour later, it sold another 1,100 ETH at $4,602.

The wallet, which originally received 20,756 ETH from the "EF 1" address in 2017, now holds 99.9 ETH (worth about $457,681) alongside 11.6 million DAI.

Hsiao-Wei Wang, co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, clarified that this was not an EF operation. Wang said the EF held about 9% of the ETH supply during its 2014 ICO, but has reduced its holdings over the years and currently holds less than 0.3% of the total supply. "So you can probably find tons of addresses linked to EF after ten years," Wang added.

The wallet's move coincides with ether's strong price momentum, with the cryptocurrency reaching above $4,500 — its peak for the year. As of 10:50 p.m. Tuesday ET, ether climbed 7.2% in the past 24 hours to $4,579, according to The Block's Ethereum price page.

Ether is now outperforming bitcoin in year-to-date price gains, fueled by a recent wave of Ethereum treasury companies and significant flows into spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds. 

Corporate ether treasuries, led by SharpLink Gaming and Bitmine, now hold close to $9 billion worth of ETH. Meanwhile, spot ETH ETFs recorded over $1 billion in total daily net inflows on Monday, which is a first since their debut last year.

The article has been updated throughout to reflect the EF's clarification about the wallet's ownership.