Dormant Ethereum Wallets Reawaken as Buterin Pushes for Copyleft Licensing

Two Ethereum wallets dating back to the blockchain’s 2015 genesis block reactivated on Monday, transferring a combined 1,140 ETH worth nearly $2.9 million after nearly a decade of dormancy. The rare movement comes as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin publishes a new blog post outlining his support for more restrictive “copyleft” software licenses, urging the crypto community to adopt legal tools that ensure public access to derivative works. Dormant Since Genesis: Two Early Ethereum Wallets Reactivate After Nearly a Decade On Monday, blockchain sleuths observed two Ethereum wallets—first activated on July 30, 2015—spring to life after nearly a decade of dormancy. The wallets, labeled “ 0x27 ” and “ 0x7f ,” transferred a combined total of 1,140 Ether (ETH), now valued at close to $2.9 million. 900 ETH moved after nearly a decade of dormancy (Source: Whale Alert ) Both addresses received their ETH allocations during Ethereum’s genesis block, the very beginning of the network’s operational life. Their initial funding is marked “GENESIS” on Etherscan, underscoring their historic roots in the Ethereum “Frontier” era—the experimental phase that kicked off the world’s leading smart contract platform. Ethereum was worth mere cents when these wallets were funded in 2015. According to TradingView data , the price of ETH has risen by an eye-watering 89,450% since then, fueled by the network’s growing dominance in decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, DAOs, and a broad range of Web3 applications. ETH-USD price change over time (Source: TradingView ) The wallets’ silent holdings have since matured into multimillion-dollar assets—highlighting the immense gains long-term holders, or “hodlers,” have seen since Ethereum’s inception. Part of a Larger Trend: Dormant Crypto Wallets Reawaken These Ethereum movements are part of a broader pattern that has gained momentum in 2024 and 2025. Last Friday, three dormant Bitcoin wallets from the Satoshi era—inactive for 14 years—moved billions of dollars worth of BTC. In total, reactivated wallets from that era transferred around $44 million in assets. Such events typically stir excitement and speculation in the crypto community, especially as the motivations behind these reactivations remain unknown. They raise questions about whether early adopters are simply securing their funds, preparing to sell, or re-engaging with the evolving crypto landscape. The reactivated wallets also serve as a living snapshot of how much Ethereum has changed since 2015. Originally launched as a proof-of-work (PoW) network, Ethereum has since undergone one of the most important transitions in blockchain history. In September 2022, Ethereum completed The Merge, moving from PoW to proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus to improve energy efficiency and scalability. This transition set the stage for additional upgrades aimed at making Ethereum faster, more secure, and easier to use. Vitalik Buterin Advocates for “Copyleft” Licensing Shift to Protect Open Source in Competitive Crypto Landscape Meanwhile, in a newly published blog post on Monday, Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin unveiled a major pivot in his perspective on software publishing. While he has historically supported permissive open-source licenses—which allow anyone to use, modify, and redistribute code freely—Buterin now endorses ”copyleft” licenses, which impose conditions on how modified code can be reused. “If you create and distribute a derivative work by modifying it or combining it with other work, the new work must also be released under the same license,” Buterin wrote, referencing widely used copyleft licenses such as Creative Commons BY-SA (ShareAlike) and the GNU General Public License (GPL). Buterin emphasized that he remains largely skeptical of copyright in principle. However, his evolving stance is driven by a strategic shift: to use copyright as a tool to keep open-source ecosystems alive and robust in the face of growing privatization and commercial control. Buterin’s change in viewpoint doesn’t emerge in a vacuum. He cites several converging factors as influencing this philosophical recalibration, notably the mainstream adoption of open-source code by large corporations and the evolving nature of the crypto sector itself. “The crypto space in particular has become more competitive and mercenary,” Buterin wrote. “We are less able than before to count on people open-sourcing their work purely out of niceness.” This observation reflects a maturing crypto ecosystem where major players—including venture-backed startups and tech giants—are increasingly leveraging open-source infrastructure for proprietary gain. In such an environment, relying on goodwill and voluntary collaboration may no longer be enough, Buterin warns. He argues that copyleft licenses can serve as a kind of ”hard power”, compelling developers who benefit from public codebases to contribute back to the ecosystem. It’s a system of mutual accountability designed to ensure the recursive openness that has historically defined projects like Linux, Wikipedia, and Ethereum itself. From Cypherpunks to Corporations: A Strained Ideal The roots of the cryptocurrency movement are deeply embedded in the cypherpunk ethos, which champions privacy, decentralization, and radical transparency through open-source software. In the early days of Bitcoin and Ethereum, many developers chose to license their code under MIT, Apache, or BSD licenses—minimalist legal structures that impose few, if any, restrictions on downstream use. But as billions of dollars have flowed into Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain gaming, the crypto world has witnessed a clash between altruism and opportunism. Some developers still publish their source code freely, while others—particularly in the NFT and Web3 art sectors—seek stronger protections to maintain control over intellectual property. “The argument for open source cannot just rely on ‘please,’” Buterin said. “It must also be accompanied by the hard power of giving access to some code only to those who open up theirs.” The copyleft model, originally championed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, mandates that any modified or derivative work must be distributed under the same license. While this ensures that improvements to a project remain free and accessible, it can also discourage corporate adoption and create licensing incompatibilities. Critics argue that such restrictions may hinder collaboration or make open-source software less appealing for commercial projects. Permissive licenses, in contrast, are easier for companies to adopt and integrate—at the cost of potentially locking up public code in private repositories. Buterin’s call for a hybrid approach—where some projects use copyleft strategically while others remain permissive—offers a middle ground that may better reflect today’s hybrid crypto ecosystem, where innovation and profit often intersect. Impact on Ethereum and the Broader Ecosystem Buterin did not directly indicate whether Ethereum’s core codebase would adopt new licensing standards, but his public endorsement of copyleft licensing is likely to spark broader debates among Web3 developers, founders, and community stewards. Ethereum itself has always straddled the line between public infrastructure and competitive advantage. While most of its client implementations and tools are open source, the platform is now home to thousands of projects—some openly licensed, others tightly guarded. In the long run, Buterin’s advocacy may influence emerging standards for Layer 2 rollups, smart contract tooling, decentralized applications, and even DAOs, especially those that wish to maintain community alignment and forkability. Buterin’s mention of Creative Commons licenses is especially significant in the context of NFTs and digital art. The NFT sector has been a battleground for competing ideologies: some creators push for strong copyright protections, while others release their work under public domain or ShareAlike terms. The Future of Open Source in Crypto Vitalik Buterin’s latest stance is more than a personal musing—it’s a reflection of the changing pressures and politics of open source in a rapidly evolving digital economy. In many ways, it echoes the concerns of early internet visionaries who feared the commodification of public goods. Whether his words spark a shift in licensing practices across the Ethereum community or remain an intellectual contribution to the debate, one thing is clear: the next chapter of open source in crypto may require a stronger legal backbone to uphold the ideals of transparency, collaboration, and decentralization.

Source: Coinpaper