Conor Grogan, a distinguished director at Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, has shared some fascinating insights regarding Ethereum wallets and the quantum of ETH tokens.
According to Grogan, a reputable analytics firm has reported that a staggering 40 million Ethereum wallets contain less than 0.0005 ETH, equivalent to a measly $0.90. This implies that a significant amount of Ethereum, approximately 6242 ETH worth $11 million, is currently out of circulation due to its negligible value, rendering it unsuitable for trading or exchanging.
According to data shared by the director of Coinbase, approximately 80 million wallets on the Ethereum network hold less than $18 worth of ETH. This accounts for 35% of all cumulative unique addresses on the network. Despite the seemingly small amounts in these wallets, they collectively amount to over $230 million, equivalent to 126k ETH tokens.
In a recent Twitter discourse, a prominent crypto researcher disclosed several cases where a staggering 636,000 ETH, valued at $1.15 billion, were irrevocably lost due to typographical errors, user mistakes, and flawed contracts. This unfortunate occurrence represents approximately 0.5% of the overall ETH token circulation.
The Ethereum ecosystem has suffered significant losses, with the Web3 Foundation being one of the hardest hit, with 306K ETH, equivalent to $538 million, being trapped due to the Parity Multisig bug. Quadriga also lost 60K ETH, valued at $108 million, due to a faulty contract. Additionally, a group of individuals sent $43 million to a burn address for unknown reasons, further exacerbating the losses. These incidents underscore the importance of robust security measures and diligent oversight in cryptocurrency.
It is worth noting that the staggering sum of over $1.1 billion in lost Ethereum, as reported above, does not encompass cases of misplaced private keys or forgotten Genesis wallets, as per the researcher’s findings. ETH is trading at $1,801, marking a notable 6% surge over the past week.
