Store market participants have continued to increase their exposure to Ethereum (ETH), investing millions of dollars in the second largest cryptocurrency.
This is happening despite a recent price decline that has pushed the asset down nearly 3% just this week. The discrepancy suggests that although the price remains under pressure, the long-term belief among institutional investors and whale wallets appears to be intact.
Price weakness does not scare off large buyers
BeInCrypto Markets data showed that Ethereum has continued to struggle in a broader market downturn. At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $2929.23, down 1.06% in the last 24 hours.
While the decline has unsettled some investors, others seem to see this as a buying opportunity. The analysis firm Lookonchain highlighted that BitMine Immersion Technologies bought 67,886 ETH worth approximately $201 million.
This followed a purchase the day before, when the company bought 29,462 ETH worth $88.1 million from BitGo and Kraken. The subsequent purchases are in line with the company's overall accumulation strategy.
Last week alone, BitMine purchased a total of 98,852 ETH, pushing the company's total Ethereum holdings over 4 million. With Ethereum's price just slightly above BitMine's average entry of $2,991, the company seems unfazed by the recent price movements.
Another major buyer was Trend Research. The investment unit led by Jack Yi, founder of LD Capital, purchased 46,379 ETH today. With this, the institution now has approximately 580,000 ETH in total.
“They started buying ETH early in November around $3,400. So far, they have accumulated a total of 580,000 ETH (approximately $1.72 billion), with an estimated average price of around $3,208. This means that they currently have an unrealized loss of about $141 million,” reported EmberCN.
In a public statement, Yi revealed that the company is preparing $1 billion for further ETH purchases. He also warned against shorting Ethereum.
Large on-chain whale wallets have also been active. The wallet known as the “66k ETH Borrow” whale, which previously had accumulated 528,272 ETH worth approximately $1.57 billion, added an additional 40,975 ETH valued at around $121 million.
“Since November 4, this whale has bought a total of 569,247 ETH ($1.69 billion), of which $881.5 million of the funds were borrowed from Aave to buy ETH,” noted Lookonchain.
At the same time, Fasanara Capital employed a leveraged strategy. The company bought 6,569 ETH worth $19.72 million over two days before depositing it into the Morpho protocol. They borrowed $13 million USDC to buy more Ethereum.
Ethereum whales are splitting as buying and selling intensifies.
However, not all major players are accumulating – some are choosing to reduce their positions. BeInCrypto reported that Arthur Hayes sent 682 ETH, worth approximately $2 million, to Binance today.
Lookonchain stated that the top executive sold 1,871 ETH worth $5.53 million in the past week, while also purchasing Ethena (ENA), Pendle (PENDLE), and ETHFI.
“We are rotating out of ETH and into high-quality DeFi names, which we believe can perform better when fiat liquidity increases,” wrote Hayes on X.
To increase selling pressure, Onchain Lens reported that the Bitcoin OG whale has deposited 100,000 ETH, worth approximately $292.12 million, into Binance. Such large whale transfers are often interpreted as possible preparations for sale but do not always result in immediate liquidation.
Previously, ETHZilla also stated that it sold 24,291 ETH for approximately $74.5 million to repay senior secured convertible debt. Despite these conflicting flows, BeInCrypto notes that selling activity among long-term Ethereum holders has fallen by over 95%.