Here’s How One Super Patient Ether Investor Turned $87,000 To About $40 Million

The crypto market is packed with stories of people who have become millionaires or even billionaires after using complicated trading strategies. However, a recent instance of an ultra-patient trader illustrates that a simple buying and HODLing approach can also result in handsome profits.

Ancient Ether Wallet Sells After Eight Years Of Dormancy

Chinese crypto data provider Ember revealed in a recent X post that an Ethereum (ETH) whale purchased 16,636 ETH tokens on the ShapeShift digital asset exchange for a measly $5.23 per coin back in February 2016. This put the total cost of the purchase at around $87,006.

Now eight and half years later, the investor is selling some of their holdings. According to Ember, the unknown trader sold 350 ETH at $2,340 per coin today (Sept. 16), raking in a whopping $818,000 — which is 10 times more than the initial investment. The patient trader still owns more than $38 million in Ether after the recent sale.

Ethereum’s price is struggling, particularly against Bitcoin (BTC), risking a deeper pullback for the industry’s second most valuable crypto. As ZyCrypto reported earlier, ETH’s price against Bitcoin has slumped to a three-and-a-half-year low last seen in 2021 amid spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows.

Ether ETFs have bled $580 million in investor money since going live on U.S. exchanges on July 23. In comparison, BTC investment products drew in more than $12 billion in their first two months and have witnessed a whopping $17 billion in net inflows in just over eight months of trading.

Bitcoin registered a new historic high of almost $74,000 in March (before tumbling 21.6%), while ETH is yet to smash its highs from November 2021 and is down 53% from its 2021 peak.

Popular Crypto Millionaire Loses $43M Fortune Shorting BTC Against ETH

Meanwhile, James Fickel, one of the richest crypto investors, endured losses of over $43 million since earlier this year, as his debt on the decentralized finance protocol Aave swelled to $132 million.

According to LookOnChain data, Fickle lost approximately $43.7 million by basically betting on Ethereum’s price against Bitcoin. The data provider noted that Fickle anticipated Ether’s price rise against Bitcoin when he initially borrowed $172 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on Jan. 10.

Much to the millionaire’s chagrin, the price of ETH has continued to underperform spectacularly compared to BTC since the beginning of 2024.