This Whale Bought ETH at $4,311 and Never Sold. It Cost Him $23.8 Million

An ethereum whale who has held 9,389 ETH for roughly four years is now sitting on a $23.8 million unrealized loss, Lookonchain reported. Furthermore, just hours earlier, the firm flagged two separate wallets pulling more than 20,000 ETH ($35 million) off exchanges.

Key Takeaways

• Whale 0xFe99’s 9,389 ETH, received at $4,311, is worth $16.69M today, a 59% paper loss.
• New wallet 0xf31d withdrew 8,239 ETH ($14.5M) as whale 0x363A bought 11,843 ETH ($20.8M) in 3 hours.
• ETH is trading near $1,780, down roughly 32% this year.

A Four-Year Round Trip Into Deep Red

The wallet, tagged 0xFe99, received 9,389 ETH worth $40.47 million about four years ago, when ether changed hands at $4,311 (near the asset’s late-2021 record run). It has not sold since. With ether recently at $1,777, the stash is now worth just $16.69 million.

“This whale held ETH for 4 years, suffering a loss of 23.8M (-59%)” Lookonchain wrote, suggesting the holder may finally be capitulating after riding the position through an entire market cycle.

Onchain data showing whale 0xFe99’s recent ETH offload, per Arkham. Investors who bought at the 2021 peak have now watched the asset halve, recover through 2024 and 2025, and then surrender most of those gains in this year’s slide. As a consequence, many OGs have cowered, with one whale offloading $136 million in ETH and staked derivatives earlier this month.

Buyers Step in as the Price Languishes

While all of the aforementioned sell-off was happening, a newly created wallet, 0xf31d, withdrew 8,239 ETH worth $14.5 million from multiple exchanges over 12 hours. At the same time, another whale, 0x363A, accumulated 11,843 ETH worth $20.8 million in just three hours.

Combined, the two wallets absorbed roughly 20,082 ETH, about $35.3 million at current prices. While large withdrawals from centralized exchanges can be seen as bullish signals, they do not automatically guarantee any sort of bottom.

Image source: X As things stand, ETH is changing hands near $1,780, down roughly 32% year to date even as bitcoin has held relative ground. The asset recently lost the psychologically important $2,000 level that bulls defended for weeks, and that marker in itself could press the token further down in the near to mid term.

Moreover, a reversal may hinge on whether exchange outflows persist and whether ether can reclaim its $2,000 threshold, especially since a sustained failure to do so would keep the pressure on the remaining long-term holders still deep underwater. Interesting times ahead, to say the least!