In the history of crypto, few stories are as famous as the "SHIB billionaire."
This mysterious investor turned a small $13,760 investment into a fortune worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Today, that legendary wallet is active again. Records on lookonchain show the "super-whale" recently sold 800 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens, taking home a $4.9 million profit.
While this sale is huge, it is only a small part of the investor's total success. Their total gains have now passed $660 million.
Many people are now asking a major question: Is this just a small trade, or is the largest independent SHIB holder finally getting ready to leave for good?
Related: Mysterious whales have made $2.1B worth trades in a single month
The 99 trillion token question
Despite selling millions of dollars worth, the holder still owns a staggering 99.27 trillion SHIB tokens. If they decide to sell the rest, the price could drop significantly.
Right now, Shiba Inu is stuck in the middle ground. The token is trading near $0.00000659 and is moving sideways.
Experts are watching the $0.0000060 level, which has acted as a safety net for prices since late March 2026.
On the other side, the price is struggling to get past $0.0000072. Until the token breaks out of this range, the market remains very cautious.
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The awakening of 'old money'
The SHIB whale isn't the only one waking up this week. We are seeing a broader trend of ancient crypto wealth returning.
Just yesterday, on April 29, a person who took part in the original 2014 Ethereum offering moved their entire stash for the first time in over ten years .
This Ethereum investor originally spent only $3,100 to buy 10,000 ETH over a decade ago. That stash is now worth roughly $22.9 million.
Much like the SHIB whale , this person saw a return of more than 7,000 times their original money.
Big institutions step in
As early individual investors move toward the exit, big companies are waiting to take their place. The market is currently in a tug-of-war between old-school investors selling and large institutions buying.
A great example of this happened recently when the venture firm Fenbushi Capital moved about $7.1 million in Ethereum to the Binance exchange .
They had bought those tokens in March when the price was around $2,017. With prices higher now, the firm has a gain of nearly $1 million.
As these giants move their money around, the crypto world is shifting from a place of lucky early bets to a market dominated by big financial firms.
Related: Elon Musk reportedly labels most cryptocurrencies as 'scams'
This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
