Ethereum

Ethereum Whales Scoop Up $60M as ETH Price Tumbles to 2023 Lows

Ethereum whales have seized the opportunity to buy the dip as ETH crashed to its lowest level since 2023.

In just 12 hours, these deep-pocketed investors poured about $60 million into the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, despite it plunging over 17% in a single day.

Whales Dive In as ETH Hits Years Low

Data shared by on-chain analytics platform Spot On Chain shows the mysterious group known as “7 Siblings” leading the charge. They spent a hefty $42.66 million to buy 25,100 ETH at an average of $1,700. The group then quickly deposited the full amount into the Aave lending platform, possibly to earn yield or borrow against the assets.

Another wallet, identified as “0x709,” borrowed 8.25 million DAI from Spark protocol to snap up 5,227 ETH at around $1,578 each. This whale also received 6,924 ETH from the Railgun privacy platform, with the stash worth about $11 million, raising speculation on their next move.

Not to be left behind, a third address, “0x5f1,” deployed $8.13 million in DAI to grab nearly 5,000 ETH at an average price of $1,631.

The buying spree marks an opportunistic push from large holders probably betting on a rebound, given that it comes at a time when the price of Ethereum is struggling to recover from one of its worst-ever quarters. It lost more than 45% of its value in the first three months of 2025. Their moves may suggest they see current prices as a long-term bargain, especially with ETH down nearly 56% from a year ago.

Market Turbulence and Mixed Sentiment

At the time of writing, the asset had dropped 17.1% in 24 hours, dragging its value down to levels not seen since March 2023.

Over the past seven days, ETH dipped 16.6%, underperforming the broader crypto market which lost slightly more than 9% in that timeframe. Additionally, against Bitcoin, ETH/BTC has hit its lowest ratio since February 2020, standing at 0.01959.

The network is also facing multiple challenges, including declining fee revenue, stiff competition from Solana, especially in the meme coin space, as well as lacklustre institutional interest compared to Bitcoin.

It has led some industry observers like Lekker Capital’s Quinn Thompson to sound Ethereum’s death knell, recently describing the asset as “completely dead” as an investment. However, Standard Chartered remains bullish, predicting the crypto asset could hit $10,000 by 2029 despite its current woes.

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Ethereum

Ethereum Derivatives Traders Position for $4K Rebound, Data Shows

Ethereum ( ETH) derivatives traders are back in full swing, with open interest, volume, and options activity all flashing signs of renewed energy across futures and options markets. ETH Max Pain Sits Near $3,300 as Traders Eye Key Expiry Levels At 10 a.m. Eastern time on Nov…
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Ethereum

ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract Now Controls 60% Of All Ethereum: Arkham

Rain Lohmus bought $75,000 worth of ETH in 2014, which is now worth $871 million. Yet, he cannot move even a single coin.

New on-chain research from Arkham Intelligence this week shows that the wallet address holding the most ETH today is not an individual, not an exchange, not an ETF issuer, but the staking contract that secures Ethereum.

According to Arkham, the ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract currently holds more than 72.4 million ETH, worth around $252 billion at current market prices, and represents approximately 60% of the total supply.

Ethereum’s Power Center

In terms of individuals, the research firm confirmed that the largest known individual holder of ETH is still Rain Lohmus, the founder of Estonian bank LHV, who bought 250,000 ETH in the 2014 presale for around $75,000. Those coins would now be worth roughly $871 million, but Lohmus does not have access to them because he lost the private keys years ago.

The second largest identifiable individual holder is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who currently holds around 240,000 ETH, worth around $840 million.

Beyond individual wallets, centralized exchanges and institutional entities collectively control some of the largest pools of Ether. Binance, for one, holds approximately 4.09 million ETH, while asset manager BlackRock holds around 3.94 million ETH, largely associated with its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. Coinbase is the next largest institutional holder, with approximately 3.5 million ETH across multiple addresses, including cold wallets and staking reserves for its cbETH staking token.

Following suit are Upbit, Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, and Bitfinex, which appear among the top institutional holders.

Seized Funds, Stolen Funds, and Layer-2 Bridges

Arkham found that governments also appear on the leaderboard. For instance, the United States government controls around 60,000 ETH, which largely consists of seized criminal funds, including from the Potapenko/Turogin case and from seizures related to the Bitfinex hacker.

Ethereum

Ethereum Traders Just Flipped Bullish, But History Says This Is a Major Red Flag

Ethereum’s bounce toward $3,500 triggered instant FOMO, but Santiment says extreme optimism usually means price is about to disappoint.

Ethereum traders have swung sharply from extreme bearishness to extreme bullishness within just a few days, based on social media sentiment.

But fresh data suggest that when ETH nearly rebounded to $3,500 on Thursday, the crowd interpreted the move as a confirmation that the asset was “back in business.”

ETH Trader FOMO

Santiment warned that this sudden pivot is similar to the same pattern seen earlier in the week, when retail panic selling actually contributed to the rebound. Now, the rapid return of FOMO could similarly stall further upside.

According to the analytics platform, prices have shown a tendency to move in the opposite direction of the crowd, and that more neutral sentiment phases have proven to be stronger buy signal environments than euphoric ones.

Crypto trader Ted Pillows also noted that even though the altcoin is showing some rebound after this week’s sharp decline, the recovery lacks conviction. According to Pillows, the current move higher, though modest, is being driven largely by short positions being closed rather than new spot buyers stepping in. He added that Ethereum needs to reclaim the $3,600-$3,700 price range with meaningful inflows to establish strength and dismiss the risk of further downside. Without that confirmation, Pillows believes the odds still favor lower prices from here.

Despite the near-term uncertainty, some traders say the bigger picture is still pointing toward a substantial upside scenario. For instance, crypto trader “Trader Tradigrade” said that ETH’s monthly chart is currently developing what he describes as a massive Inverse Head and Shoulders pattern, with a potential price target of $14,000 once confirmed.

“Wet Blanket” Phase

As the crypto market remains sluggish, Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz believes that this could be due to long-term holders rebalancing their net worths and diversifying away from massive concentrated holdings after a very long bull market. Novogratz deems this to be a healthy sign in the medium and long term as these positions get distributed. In the short run, however, he said that “it’s a proverbial wet blanket” and has weighed on prices.

About the author

Chayanika has been working as a financial journalist for six years. A graduate in Political Science and Journalism, her interest lies in regulatory implications with a focus on technological evolution in the crypto realm.