Ethereum took a severe plunge right after the market-wide fall in the last week of Feb. A quick primer on the last two weeks: Bitcoin was in a consolidation mode after hitting peaks back to back in consecutive weeks. Hence, the leader of the altcoins, Ethereum [ETH] too was found to be mirroring its gains in the market.
As it resumed an uptrend eyeing the recently breached all-time high level of monumental $2,000, the traders in the market appeared to be busy taking their Ethers off crypto-exchanges. In short, the Ethereum whales are back in the game.
If the latest stats are to be believed, whales [holding 10k+ ETH] now own 68.6% of the total supply. This was accompanied by Ethereum’s price surging back to $1,685 level.
According to the crypto-analytic platform, Santiment, the latest figure is the highest percentage owned by whales since November 2017.
However, the same cannot be said for addresses owing 0-10k Ether. The platform mentioned that this cohort of addresses owns the lowest percentage since September 2017.
It was a clear case of accumulation by the large Ethereum holders. The above chart demonstrated the inverse correlation between the token’s price and the coins on crypto exchanges.
This was indicative of a major bullish sentiment as the whales were found to be HODLing the crypto asset in anticipation of the price aiming for new heights.
Further affirming this bullishness among market participants was Ethereum’s top 10 non-exchange whale addresses amassing more than 1 million ETH in a 24 hour period on the 1st of March which roughly valued at $1.6 billion.
This was the highest one-day jump in the accumulation of the crypto-asset in more than a month.
What Does This Ethereum Accumulation Trend Mean?
These developments were proof that the value of ETH could potentially reach for new heights and we may see fewer and fewer Ethereum remaining on cryptocurrency exchanges in the coming days.
While it is no surprise that the latest numbers show that Ethereum whales were playing the long game as they continued to stack ETH, eventually buying the dip, there’s more to the picture.
Ethereum has been long plagued with high transaction fees. This bone of contention remerged this bull season as the figures skyrocketed to levels never seen before making it a super expensive blockchain that is meant only for the rich.
Hence, the latest development was a vote of confidence especially in the face of the emergence of gas-friendly blockchains such as the Binance Smart Chain, Zilliqa, Tron and Cardano