KEY POINTS
- The whale bought 48 billion SHIB for 2 ETH early in 2021 and held it for three and a half years
- The Monday sale of billions of SHIB accounts for 'a gain of 419x,' as per Lookonchain
- In February, another SHIB whale sold nearly $4M worth of the tokens on a $6 million loss
A cryptocurrency whale who held billions of Shiba Inu (SHIB) for about three and a half years has finally let his tokens go, profiting 419 times from the sale of his long-held memecoins.
"After being dormant for 3.5 years, the super diamond trader finally sold $SHIB at a profit," blockchain data provider Lookonchain posted on X (formerly Twitter) Monday.
After being dormant for 3.5 years, the super diamond trader finally sold $SHIB at a profit.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 27, 2024
He spent 2 $ETH($2,625) to buy 48.09B $SHIB on Feb 1, 2021, and sold it for 278.7 $ETH($1.1M) just now, a gain of 419x!https://t.co/Pw9i9wbKcn pic.twitter.com/Qvp9wKpWCc
On-chain data shows that the SHIB whale purchased over 48 billion tokens using 2 Ether (ETH) worth over $2,600 in February 2021 and allowed his coins to grow for the past three years. On Monday, the investor sold the tokens for 278.7 ETH to a staggering $1.1 million, "a gain of 419x," as per Lookonchain.
SHIB is currently the world's second-largest meme token by market cap with a market value of $14.63 billion, as per the latest statistics from Forbes. It is only behind the top memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE). In the overall cryptocurrency rankings, SHIB is on the 11th spot among over a thousand digital assets tracked by CoinMarketCap.
The memecoin's popularity has taken over social media and helped build a decentralized ecosystem around it. It also has a layer 2 blockchain, Shibarium, where SHIB holders engage.
The official X handle of the SHIB token congratulated the "dedicated" Shiba Inu holder, whom it said "took a leap of faith" when he first invested in billions of SHIB. "This incredible journey showcases the power of patience, belief, and the potential of Shiba Inu," it wrote of the sale.
This isn't the first time a SHIB whale took the attention of the crypto space. In February, a huge Shiba Inu holder, identified by on-chain data analysis platform Spot on Chain as "0x30e," sold nearly $4 million worth of the memecoin. However, unlike the latest crypto whale's move, holder 0x30e sold his coins to a loss of $6.32 million after holding on to the assets for over two years.
Meanwhile, the team behind SHIB continues to build on its vision of true decentralization for the memecoin's massive #ShibArmy.
Last month, the SHIB team raised $12 million in funds through an unreleased token with the ticker $TREAT to help in its new mission of building a layer 3 blockchain solution. The token sale fundraising was backed by some of Shibarium's non-U.S. venture capital partners, including Polygon Ventures, Animoca Brands, and Primal Capital.
Shytoshi Kusama, the pseudonymous lead developer of SHIB, said at the time that the support for the development of Shibarium's new layer 3 blockchain not only expands the ecosystem's partner network but also "exponentially" increases the token's capability.
