Ethereum investor hold it 10 years, from $3,100 to $22 million

[fullfitlarry]

https://x.com/arkham/status/2049744801596313898

This is one classic example on what patience can do to us here in crypto world. This investor who invested at a pre-sale price of ETH at $0.31. And then just hold on it for the next 10 years. And as per report, that investor has move it for the first time and now it's worth $22 million.

I'm not sure if there are Ethereum investors who might have hold it for years and make a lot of money, but if you are then you are what we call diamond hands. And congrats to all of you. This could be a lesson for us, although if we hold for the next 10 years, the return might not be as big as that.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Could easily be 2x of that if he sold at ethereum's all time high but still a massive win regardless.

This strategy, where you buy a coin and then forget it for 10 years don't really work anymore because new coins are mostly venture capital invested coin where the ultimate goal is to create market where the early angel investor and venture capital could dump the coin into oblivion. Whoever behind that address, really well played.

[bitbollo]

Patience means nothing with altcoins. This can be seen as "cherry picking". What is worst, it couldn't justify any further raise/value increase.
All early investors at that time have great ROI including investors in some ICO. But this not means an easy gain, HODL is not a strategy with most altcoins.
If you have a look on the top 10 market cap you will see a completely different list of coins.
If you take some specific years you will see clearly that in most of case you have just lose money investing in altcoins.

[coin-investor]

I'm not sure if there are Ethereum investors who might have hold it for years and make a lot of money, but if you are then you are what we call diamond hands. And congrats to all of you. This could be a lesson for us, although if we hold for the next 10 years, the return might not be as big as that.

You can only do that if you have an insight, you have the money to stop your greediness for selling your holdings, and totally believe in Ethereum; it's a big achievement, which proves that HODLING is a virtue if there's a new coin today with good potential like Ethereum, people will do the same, especially for the young investors.

[asriloni]

It's not all of people can follow this pattern. Someone who bought with that huge sum of money, then abandoned it for more than a decade can be classified as a financial freedom. When you're financially good, it's easy for you to invest then abandon it. Meanwhile, there were many people were not able holding it for long term due to the needs.

You can't judge anyone to follow the pattern because different person, different financial condition. it's okay to use it as a lesson long term is always be the winner, but the question is that are all of altcoins performed as good as ethereum did? So don't forget it. You're basically telling the the fact but that doesn't represent the whole story.

[DanWalker]

This is one classic example on what patience can do to us here in crypto world.

Patience is an important factor in crypto investing. However, patience alone is not enough, we need a clear plan and effective capital management. Furthermore, not all coin will yield a profit when held long term. Therefore, choosing the right coin and the right time to invest is also very important

Investing in altcoin is like gambling, the risk are too great. Before deciding to be patient and hold it long term, we need to carefully assess it and have a backup plan in case it does not perform as expected. Dont blindly hold long term.

[WatChe]

Patience means nothing with altcoins. This can be seen as "cherry picking". What is worst, it couldn't justify any further raise/value increase.
All early investors at that time have great ROI including investors in some ICO. But this not means an easy gain, HODL is not a strategy with most altcoins.
If you have a look on the top 10 market cap you will see a completely different list of coins.
If you take some specific years you will see clearly that in most of case you have just lose money investing in altcoins.

The way Bitcoin has given good return to its investors doesn't mean the alts will give the same return to its investors. Just a small research can tell us how much return bitcoin has given to its investors vs return given by top 10 alts on cmc. If you want to invest for long term then choose Bitcoin because only that has the capability to increase its value over period of time. The alts just follow the price pattern of Bitcoin and in some case they don't. Focus on Bitcoin alone if you want to invest for long term.

[aioc]

It's good that it's Ethereum. In my early days of investing in ICOs, I invested in and HODL some ICO-based ICO and they were gone after a year. Ethereum showed a strong performance in the market after its ICO, and with the innovation that it brought to the industry, the holder correctly analyzed that holding it for as long as he can will yield him huge profit, and that's what happened
It's hard to find a new one today that will perform like Ethereum if you are going to hold it for 10 years.

[jossiel]

Well done for that guy, he deserves the profit he's made.

I am also an ETH investor but not as many as that guy. Been holding it for years as well but not that enough to be happy with the profit that I have.

Although I am in profit but for me, it's not just enough to take it out and leave ETH for good. One of the best ICOs that guy has ever joined.

[cahlmags]

Well done for that guy, he deserves the profit he's made.
...
One of the best ICOs that guy has ever joined.

Let's be real: almost every ICO from that era was a scam. Projects promising the world, delivering nothing — and in many cases, the people behind them ended up in prison. The track record speaks for itself.
But there's one that stands apart, and history has proven it.

This wasn't just another fundraise. It introduced smart contracts — a foundational innovation that redefined what a blockchain could actually do. Not a whitepaper promise, not vaporware — a functioning programmable layer that created real utility for the entire crypto economy.
Every DeFi protocol, every token standard, every on-chain application we take for granted today traces its lineage back to that moment.

The ICO wasn't the point. The ETH-ICO was the birth of something far larger.

[nelson4lov]

Could easily be 2x of that if he sold at ethereum's all time high but still a massive win regardless.

This strategy, where you buy a coin and then forget it for 10 years don't really work anymore because new coins are mostly venture capital invested coin where the ultimate goal is to create market where the early angel investor and venture capital could dump the coin into oblivion. Whoever behind that address, really well played.

That's the problem with the current market and I think that's how it's going to be for the foreseeable future. As crypto got popular, I expected venture funds and investors to join in and they did. Now, there's is almost no way for retail to get in early and profit and that's why we would go on for much longer before we would see decent retail money coming into the market especially now that most people have understood that buying overinflated tokens at billion dollar FDVs is not the way to go.

[jossiel]

Well done for that guy, he deserves the profit he's made.
...
One of the best ICOs that guy has ever joined.

Let's be real: almost every ICO from that era was a scam. Projects promising the world, delivering nothing — and in many cases, the people behind them ended up in prison. The track record speaks for itself.
But there's one that stands apart, and history has proven it.

This wasn't just another fundraise. It introduced smart contracts — a foundational innovation that redefined what a blockchain could actually do. Not a whitepaper promise, not vaporware — a functioning programmable layer that created real utility for the entire crypto economy.
Every DeFi protocol, every token standard, every on-chain application we take for granted today traces its lineage back to that moment.

The ICO wasn't the point. The ETH-ICO was the birth of something far larger.

Yes, the ICOs have became in the dark after the successful ones were launched. I understand the point, I just forgot to mention that in the end that most icos turned scams after the successful ones.

Well, the point is still there that he's got to join the most successful one and with his patience, he's earned so much from it.

The technicalities and what's born after the ETH ICO is the rest and history.

[LogitechMouse]

---
This is one classic example on what patience can do to us here in crypto world. This investor who invested at a pre-sale price of ETH at $0.31. And then just hold on it for the next 10 years. And as per report, that investor has move it for the first time and now it's worth $22 million.

I'm not sure if there are Ethereum investors who might have hold it for years and make a lot of money, but if you are then you are what we call diamond hands. And congrats to all of you. This could be a lesson for us, although if we hold for the next 10 years, the return might not be as big as that.

The patience of that investor is on another level.
Or maybe he's an alien that already forgot about his investment already.

Kidding aside, these kind of investors are very rare nowadays. I mean only a few people right now have that kind of patience and of course, trust towards the project as well. Imagine he bought it at less than a dollar and just trusted the project just like how the OG Bitcoin investors did in the past, and now all of them got rewarded just by being patient. That's how life-changing the crypto market is. It can change your life in a positive way and could make you financially free, or it could affect you negatively and be in debt for the rest of your lives.

Personally, I don't think that I have the patience this long because my initial holding time for long term coins like Bitcoin is 4 years at most. Buying during the bear market, and selling during the bull market is my strategy for long-term investing.

[TastyChillySauce00]

That's the problem with the current market and I think that's how it's going to be for the foreseeable future. As crypto got popular, I expected venture funds and investors to join in and they did. Now, there's is almost no way for retail to get in early and profit and that's why we would go on for much longer before we would see decent retail money coming into the market especially now that most people have understood that buying overinflated tokens at billion dollar FDVs is not the way to go.

Yep, every edges is already being taken advantage by these venture funds and even the project that got invested itself might go as far as manipulating the chart and being greedy.
It's not worth it anymore to invest into altcoin right now besides few exception but overall I don't really invest into altcoin anymore.

I find it full of scams and would prefer to invest into established altcoin like solana at the very least or just simply limit myself to bitcoin and stock. Hard to care about altcoin when it's this bad.

[Localhostspeed]

This is one classic example on what patience can do to us here in crypto world. This investor who invested at a pre-sale price of ETH at $0.31. And then just hold on it for the next 10 years. And as per report, that investor has move it for the first time and now it's worth $22 million.

I'm not sure if there are Ethereum investors who might have hold it for years and make a lot of money, but if you are then you are what we call diamond hands. And congrats to all of you. This could be a lesson for us, although if we hold for the next 10 years, the return might not be as big as that.

There was bubble in crypto market that time and it's one of the early project I will say many were lucky to have made. There are more than thousands of related Ethereum projects that many people has done the same and they didn't make it. Some were launch through Binance IEO, I checked some of this projects today and they are nothing but complete failure that if some people can go back in time, I'm very sure they will not try to hold again.

This same person might be worth $44m last year but Ethereum has become unstable and that's bad. Bitcoin dump but the way Ethereum dump to the market want to make you wonder of people don't believe in it any more because yesterday there was even a news that the foundation was selling some Ethereum, this behavior is killing the trust of people, this is why many people don't believe if it will ever cross $10k or more as Bitcoin moves to all time high.

[passwordnow]

Probably his most lucrative and best investments that he's ever had.

Personally, I don't think that I have the patience this long because my initial holding time for long term coins like Bitcoin is 4 years at most. Buying during the bear market, and selling during the bull market is my strategy for long-term investing.

Me too, if I'll put myself in his situation. That's some god tier patience that he's got and that's the same for the og bitcoin holders as well who have held it more than 10 years and then moved and opened their wallets again during the bull and had to sell.

[free-bit.co.in]

Personally, I don't think that I have the patience this long because my initial holding time for long term coins like Bitcoin is 4 years at most. Buying during the bear market, and selling during the bull market is my strategy for long-term investing.

Me too, if I'll put myself in his situation. That's some god tier patience that he's got and that's the same for the og bitcoin holders as well who have held it more than 10 years and then moved and opened their wallets again during the bull and had to sell.

Most of us would state that we are willing to hold bitcoin for the long term, from 5 to 10 year or longer. But in reality, many people can only keep it for about 4 year or even less. This is understandable, because holding bitcoin for the long term (10year) requires more than just belief and patience. That depend on each person's financial situation. Unfortunately, not all of us have stable and abundant financial resources.

To be able to invest long term for 10 to 20 year, we need a stable economy and not be under financial pressure.

[marrcelo]

honestly back then locking money in something that could
easily go to zero took guts, easy to say it was obvious now

[passwordnow]

Personally, I don't think that I have the patience this long because my initial holding time for long term coins like Bitcoin is 4 years at most. Buying during the bear market, and selling during the bull market is my strategy for long-term investing.

Me too, if I'll put myself in his situation. That's some god tier patience that he's got and that's the same for the og bitcoin holders as well who have held it more than 10 years and then moved and opened their wallets again during the bull and had to sell.

Most of us would state that we are willing to hold bitcoin for the long term, from 5 to 10 year or longer. But in reality, many people can only keep it for about 4 year or even less. This is understandable, because holding bitcoin for the long term (10year) requires more than just belief and patience. That depend on each person's financial situation. Unfortunately, not all of us have stable and abundant financial resources.

There might be those who would testify that they have been holding for 10 years. But they are no longer the entire amount when they've bought it years ago. Because whenever the price increases, they're likely to sell so that they'll make some profits and they won't ignore that moment when they have seen their portfolios blow a lot and the profit is more than the double that they have been waiting for so long.

To be able to invest long term for 10 to 20 year, we need a stable economy and not be under financial pressure.

I agree because if you're struggling, you're likely to sell all.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Lack of knowledge and trust in a project is what makes many people unable to be patient for the long term before selling their coin. If there is trust, holding a coin for even more than 20 years may not be a big deal.However, many people who invest in projects are doing so because of what others are saying about them, not because of their own findings. For this reason, they are always ready to sell when people start talking negatively about a project.

Many people plan to hold certain coins for a long period of time, but along the way, they begin to panic because of what others are saying about the project. From there, they start selling and may end up selling completely. Later, after some time, they return to start afresh after the coin has already grown again.So, if someone wants to be able to hold a coin for the long term, one important thing is to truly trust the coin based on their own research. They should also invest only what they can afford to leave for a long time.You see some people publicly saying they trust a coin and are ready to hold it for a long period because others are saying so, but in their minds, they may not truly trust Bitcoin. That lack of genuine trust is what leads them to sell before their planned holding period