Ethereum Whales Shift Strategies: Profit-Taking amid Price Surge Raises Concerns

As a seasoned researcher with years of experience tracking cryptocurrency markets, I find myself constantly intrigued by the dance between whales and retail investors. The recent moves by Ethereum ICO participants, Genesis Trading’s bankruptcy wallet, and even the Ethereum Foundation, have added another layer of complexity to this already fascinating market.


The price of Ethereum (ETH) has surged by over 2% in the last 24 hours, continuing the uptrend it began six days ago. However, some whale wallets are exiting the bull trend. According to on-chain analytics firm Spot On Chain, an ETH ICO participant and a wallet linked to Genesis have both moved a combined 8,510 ETH, which is around $21.9 million, to a centralized exchange.

In the past nine hours, two significant market participants – one being a company that participated in an Initial Coin Offering for Ethereum, and the other associated with Genesis Trading’s bankruptcy wallet – have collectively transferred approximately 8,510 Ether (equivalent to around $21.9 million) into cryptocurrency exchanges!

🐳 The Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO) giant “0xb8c” has transferred another 3,510 Ether ($9.04M) to Kraken following a gap of three months. Remarkably, this whale continues to hold…

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 23, 2024

On their designated page, the analytics company disclosed that a significant Ethereum ICO investor identified by the address “0xb8c” has resumed transactions to cryptocurrency exchange Kraken after three months of inactivity. This individual transferred 3,510 ETH, equivalent to approximately $9.04 million. Despite this substantial sell-off, it was found that the user continues to hold around 136,000 ETH, translating to roughly $358 million spread across eight digital wallets.

A digital wallet linked to the cryptocurrency lending platform, Genesis, has moved approximately 5,000 Ether (worth about $12.9 million) over to FalconX. This transfer occurred in the year 2023, a time when FalconX was heading towards bankruptcy and owed its investors a staggering $3 billion in total. The fact that Genesis is offloading these funds implies that they are settling their debts with their creditors.

The process of transferring Ether (ETH) persists as the Ethereum Foundation, an organization dedicated to bolstering Ethereum, recently sold 100 ETH, equivalent to approximately $264,000, marking another sale within a span of less than three days.

The recent sale has increased the organization’s total Ethereum sales since January 2024 to approximately 3,566 ETH, equivalent to nearly $9.94 million. According to Lookonchain, the foundation has been selling Ethereum at an average price of about $2,791, with one sale occurring roughly every 11 days and each transaction involving around 151 ETH, or approximately $421,000.

Implications for the Ethereum Ecosystem

Although significant ETH transactions by prominent players are occurring, the full impact hasn’t been fully seen in the ETH market yet. For the past six days, the price of the coin has persisted on an upward trajectory, only dipping by 4% from $2,632 to $2,519 on Sunday. However, it quickly rebounded, increasing more than 2% in the last 24 hours.

Transactions made by the ICO whale and Ethereum Foundation might be perceived as cashing out after a long wait, much like another whale’s strategy uncovered by Lookonchain, who purchased ETH during a bear market and later sold it during a bull market, amassing a staggering $171.72 million in profits.

As reported by the blockchain analysis company, a shrewd investor purchased approximately 96,639 Ether, worth around $151.42 million, from Coinbase at an average price of $1,567 on September 3 and 4, 2022. Subsequently, this large-scale investor transferred 70,000 Ether, equivalent to $214.34 million at the time of $3,062 each, into the Kraken exchange on March 6, 2023, presumably to capitalize on increasing market prices.

Additionally, Genesis’ sales might serve as one method for the company to reimburse its creditors. Although these transactions may be valid, persistent selling could spark worries among individual investors, potentially causing mass sell-offs that lower the value of the coin.

Read More

Sorry. No data so far.

2024-09-23 15:11