In a display of confidence in the long-term prospects of the second-largest digital currency by market capitalization, Ethereum ($ETH), a mysterious cryptocurrency whale has recently sprung back into action after over two years of inertia, staking 4,032 ETH, worth around $7.4 million.
According to the popular blockchain analysis service Lookonchain, the investor was an early participant in Ethereum’s initial coin offering (ICO) and acquired a hefty 60,000 ETH at the genesis of the ETH mainnet in 2015.
This move is potentially indicative of the whale’s optimistic outlook towards Ethereum, and, perhaps more broadly, the trajectory of digital assets. The whale’s move comes shortly after bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius moved to reclaim its Lido staked Ether (stETH) tokens from liquid staking platform Lido after the latter recently enabled withdrawals.
These withdrawals came in after Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade allowed investors to unstake their $ETH. Celsius has commenced the process of retrieving its Lido Staked Ether tokens according to blockchain data. The firm has requested the withdrawal of 428,084 stETH, organized in 1,000-unit batches.
The capital Celsius is set to recover could be deployed in its restructuring efforts or to settle a portion of its $4.7 billion debts owed to creditors. Earlier in the year, in February, the crypto lender had converted 22,962 wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) into Bitcoin in a transaction estimated to be worth roughly $540 million at the time.