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$11B Bitcoin whale sells $330M ETH, opens massive $748M longs in top cryptos
An $11 billion Bitcoin whale is betting hundreds of millions of dollars on price increases of Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, while "smart money" traders remain net short on leading tokens.
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The $11 billion Bitcoin whale who correctly predicted the $19 billion October market crash is betting on the price appreciation of the top cryptocurrencies, signaling a potential market recovery.
After cashing out $330 million in Ether
ETH$3,183
, the whale opened three leveraged long positions worth a cumulative $748 million, betting on price increases of Bitcoin
BTC$93,675
, Ether and Solana
SOL$135.50
.
The largest is an ETH long position worth $598 million, opened at $3,147, which faces liquidation if Ether’s price falls below $2,143, according to blockchain data platform Lookonchain’s Tuesday X post.
Based on their recent transaction patterns, the whale is positioning for a short-term rally in the three leading cryptocurrencies while continuing to run leveraged positions despite facing about $49 million in unrealized losses.
Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of the Ethereum blockchain, said decentralized applications (DApps), could help mitigate failures in centralized internet infrastructure, such as when internet services provider Cloudflare experienced a massive outage in November.
In a Thursday X post, Buterin said Ethereum needed to do more to achieve its mission of “[building] the world computer that serves as a central infrastructure piece of a more free and open internet.” According to the co-founder, that started with DApps that “run without fraud, censorship or third-party interference” and are usable at scale on the blockchain.
“Applications where if you're a user, you don't even notice if Cloudflare goes down - or even if all of Cloudflare gets hacked by North Korea,” said Buterin. “Applications whose stability transcends the rise and fall of companies, ideologies and political parties. And applications that protect your privacy. All this - for finance, and also for identity, governance and whatever other civilizational infrastructure people want to build.”
Tom Lee, chairman of publicly listed Ether treasury company BitMine, urged shareholders to back a proposal to dramatically increase the company’s authorized share count to 50 billion from 50 million, citing the potential need for future stock splits as Ether’s price drives the the company’s valuation.
Lee said BitMine’s share price closely tracks the price of Ether
ETH$3,178
, and that he modeled potential future valuations using the ETH/Bitcoin ratio. According to Lee, ETH could reach $250,000 if Bitcoin
BTC$93,682
climbs to $1 million, a scenario that would push BitMine’s share price to levels he said would be inaccessible for most retail investors.
BitMine shifted from operating as a Bitcoin mining and holding company to an ETH treasury strategy in 2025, but it still retains some of its Bitcoin operations.
ETH reaching $250,000 would put BitMine shares at an “implied price” of about $5,000 per share, according to Lee, which is far too expensive for most retail investors. “Not everybody wants a stock price at $500, $1,500, or $5,000. Most people want shares to stay at around $25.”
US-based spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs began 2026 on a strong note, posting a combined net inflow of around $646 million on the first trading day, despite mixed sentiment across the broader crypto market.
On Friday, spot Bitcoin
BTC$93,569
ETFs saw net inflows of $471.3 million, while spot Ether
ETH$3,174
ETFs added $174.5 million, bringing total inflows across the two ETF types to $645.8 million, according to Farside data.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs posted their largest net inflow in 35 trading days since Nov. 11, when the eleven US-based ETFs collectively saw $524 million in a single day.
Meanwhile, spot Ether ETFs saw their largest single-day inflow in 15 trading days, the largest day since Dec. 9, when $177.7 million was recorded.
Ethereum powers $8T in stablecoin transfers in Q4, smashing record
Ethereum processed $8 trillion in stablecoin transfers during Q4, nearly double Q2’s volume, while active addresses and daily transactions peaked.
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Stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum surpassed $8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, marking a new all-time high, Token Terminal reported on Monday.
The $8 trillion milestone is almost double the transfer volume figure for the second quarter, which was just over $4 trillion, according to Token Terminal’s chart.
Stablecoin issuance on Ethereum increased by around 43% in 2025 from $127 billion to $181 billion by year’s end, according to BlockWorks.
“This isn’t speculation. This is global payments happening on-chain,” commented “BMNR Bullz” on X. “This is before SWIFT-style integrations, full RWA tokenization, and institutional rails going live.
“The rails are already built. Adoption is catching up,” they added.
is attempting to transition into a phase of “strength” after weeks of range-trading between $90,000 and $86,000. While the technical structure has improved, BTC traders debate whether the move has momentum or risks of becoming a bull trap.
Key takeaways:
A Bitcoin indicator flipped firmly bullish as BTC reclaimed a position above $90,000.
Momentum and channel positioning favor continuation, but near-term overbought risks remain elevated.
Onchain accumulation continues to absorb supply, while traders disagree on whether $100,000 marks expansion or exhaustion.
BTC market signals “risk-on” tilt as BTC presses resistance
According to Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr, BTC’s structure shift indicator, a composite of channel position, moving-average trend, and directional movement, has decisively reversed. In late December, the signal remained below -0.3, aligning with downside pressure.
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