Over the last few weeks, there has been a clear accumulation trend among Ethereum holders. ETH had spilled out of exchanges at a high rate, following the same movement of BTC out of exchanges. The volume of ETH pointed toward whales taking large positions in the digital asset. The result of their accumulation is now apparent as Ethereum whale holdings have shot to a new high.
Whales Stack ETH
Ethereum whale holdings have been growing over the last couple of weeks. These large whales that already have at least a million ETH on their balances obviously believe the price of the digital asset would be making some recovery.
Data from Santiment shows that the holdings of the largest ETH whales were up by 14% in less than one month since the Ethereum Merge was completed. They had increased their holdings by a cumulative 3.5 ETH during this time.
Interestingly, the accumulated ETH has been coming from another group of Ethereum whales. The whales who hold between 100 and 1 million ETH have seen a marked sell-off trend but the larger whales have been right there to pick up the loose supply. They now hold a total of 28.55 million ETH.
ETH whale holdings increase by 14% | Source: Santiment
The accumulation so far shows that there is still a lot of bullishness surrounding ETH despite the move to proof of stake. There have been talks of ETH being classified as a security and regulated as such, but there has been nothing definite on that front.
Ethereum Is Still Popular
Even with the move to proof of stake and the dissatisfaction of Ethereum miners, it is still a popular investment choice among investors. Even with the bearishness surrounding the market, ETH continues to trade firmly above the $1,000 level.
ETH still holding above $1,200 | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
It is also worth mentioning that the ETH issuance has been reduced by more than 90%. Instead of a 3.62% ETH issuance rate, it is now at 0.02% per year. This puts it well below the issuance rate of BTC on a yearly basis, and with the burn, ETH supply is expected to turn deflationary.
ETH’s price is also holding steady just above $1,200, which had led to speculations that the digital asset might not see sub-$1,000 price levels again until the bear market is over. Nevertheless, the accumulation by the largest whales shows that they will believe in the short and long-term performance of the cryptocurrency.