7 January 2024
Ethereum whales have been on a buying spree for a while now, which is an indication of their sustained support for the king of altcoins. These whale buys have particularly increased in the past few weeks. On-chain data from Santiment reveals Ethereum’s largest private wallets now hold an all-time high of 56.25 million ETH, representing 46.8% of the crypto’s total circulating supply.
Ethereum Whales Accumulate Record Amounts Of ETH
Ethereum is currently trading in a range, as price action shows the crypto trading between the higher end of $2,434 and the lower end of $2,127 in the past 30 days. However, the crypto is now showing signs of recovery after a recent price recovery and is now building strong momentum above $2,200.
Amidst the price theatrics, Ethereum whales have been buying more ETH into their wallets to push the total count to new highs upon new highs. At the same time, these whales have been withdrawing from exchanges, causing ETH on exchange-owned addresses to drop to their lowest levels in over five years.
According to data from on-chain analytics platform Santiment, a record 65.71 million ETH, representing 54.67% of the total circulating supply is now held by top addresses. Out of this figure, 56.25 million ETH belong to the top 150 self-custodial wallets. Consequently, the top 150 exchange-linked wallets now hold 9.46 million ETH, nearing its lowest level since June 2018.
Increasing Whale Accumulation: Possible Explanation
The crypto industry went through a strong price surge in the last quarter of 2023, flipping the optimism around most cryptocurrencies bullish. Continued whale acquisitions can be linked to an anticipated continuation of the price growth in 2024, with the imminent approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in the US lurking in the background.
The accumulation from Ethereum’s largest whales is a good sign for the long-term price, as it signals they believe the price will continue to increase. Their buying power also helps to establish price support by reducing the supply of ETH for sale.
Spotonchain recently showed that an Ethereum whale, identified as ‘0x931’, bought 21,192 ETH worth approximately $48 million at an average price of $2,265. The recent purchase now puts the whale’s total buys at 79,500 ETH since January 2023 and is now sitting on $36.84 million unrealized profit.
At the same time, liquid staking protocols witnessed steady deposits throughout 2023. Data from DeFiLlama shows that 12.3m ETH ($27.585 billion) are currently locked in ETH liquid staking derivatives. This represents an 80% growth from 6.8 million ETH locked in January 2023.
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