The 2014 Ethereum presale and the 2026 supply stalemate

The 2014 Genesis

The Ethereum presale ran for 42 days from 22 July to 2 September 2014. It sold approximately 60 million ETH for 31,500 BTC, making it one of the largest crowdfunds in internet history. At the start of the sale, 1 BTC bought 2,000 ETH, while the rate dropped to 1,337 by the close. This puts the price at roughly $0.31 per ETH. Twelve years after the network launched, 621 genesis addresses have never broadcast an outgoing transaction. These 621 wallets hold 1,421,008 ETH, which equals $2.7 billion at the $1,930 price level. This dormant amount accounts for 2.4% of the 60 million ETH sold. A scan of 8,893 genesis addresses shows that 7.0% of the original buyers never sent a single transaction. I judge the concentration of this much value in unmoving accounts to be a failure of the original promise of broad distribution. The sale was unforgiving because buyers had to keep their own wallet files without the possibility of password resets. If a buyer lost the file, they lost access to their ether forever.

Dormancy and recent awakenings

Dormancy in these wallets shows extreme concentration. The 29 largest wallets containing 10,000 ETH or more account for 825,321 ETH, which makes up 58% of the dormant total, while the ten biggest alone hold 523,322 ETH of that amount. Rain Lohmus holds a single 250,000-ETH address that has never sent an outgoing transaction. At the $1,930 price point, that single stake equals $483 million. Conor Grogan traced this address as one of the largest in existence. Because 2014 browser JavaScript caused encoding errors, many users find their passwords fail despite entering the correct characters, specifically when dealing with Unicode NFC/NFD normalisation or the specific way macOS handles smart quotes and dead-key accents. One buyer lost 1,970 ETH after deleting a webmail message containing the wallet file in 2017. Another family still cannot access $6 million in ETH from the original presale. These cases prove that losing a wallet file means losing the coins forever. Since 2025, 30 wallets have woken up for the first time in a decade. In 2025, 20 wallets moved 52,755 ETH, and in 2026, another 10 wallets moved 15,164 ETH, with one of those awakenings moving 10,000 ETH after a decade of silence. These 30 wallets moved 67,900 ETH, totaling $131 million at current prices. Most of these users emptied their balances to near-zero, which looks like a long-planned exit.

The 2026 supply debate

The 122.06 million ETH in circulation as of 17 September 2026 shows the legacy of the 72 million ETH premine. This initial allocation to early contributors and investors remains a source of debate.

Since the network launched, 49.1 million ETH entered circulation through mining. While 10.3 million ETH, or 41.7% of the premine, went to exchanges, only 1.6 million ETH, which makes up 2.3% of the premine, stayed unmoved in those original accounts. The current total supply grew from 120.7 million ETH a year ago, meaning the 1.12% annual growth reflects the ongoing issuance process. In July 2026, Ethereum traded near the $1,600 area after dropping from its $4,958 peak in August 2025. However, Ethereum entered September trading at $2,452. This growth rate of 0.18% in 2025 is much slower than Bitcoin’s 0.82% inflation rate. Over 30% of the total supply, roughly 36 million ETH, stays locked in staking contracts. If the 1.42 million ETH in dormant wallets remains stuck, how will it ever impact market liquidity? The 72 million ETH premine still shapes the network’s concentration, acting as a floor for early holder influence. You should monitor how staking levels affect the circulating supply.