Ethereum whales, sharks keep buying up ETH as retail cashes out

Crypto analytics firm Santiment found that Ether whales boosted their ETH holdings by 3.72% while retail investors have been banking profits.

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Ethereum whales, sharks keep buying up ETH as retail cashes out

Major Ethereum holders have been scooping up Ether (ETH) over the past month as the cryptocurrency chopped sideways, while retail investors have been cashing out.

Ethereum wallets holding between 1,000 ETH (whales) and 100,000 ETH (sharks) have added a net total of 1.49 million ETH (worth $3.79 billion) over the last 30 days, increasing their collective holdings by 3.72%, Santiment said in a X post on June 13.

“Over the past month alone, these key whale and shark wallets have rapidly added more coins as retail traders have taken profit,” Santiment said.

The group now holds 41.61 million ETH — nearly 27% of the Ether’s current supply, the firm said, citing June 12 data.

*Top crypto projects with the most whale transactions over the last week. Source:* *Santiment*

Whales are tapping into Ethereum’s DeFi space, too

Ethereum Name Service saw the biggest rise in whale transaction activity the second week of July at 313.5%, while Ethereum lending protocol came in next at 203.8%, Santiment said in a separate X post.

The Ethereum Layer 2-based Virtual Protocol, along with USDC (USDC) transfers on layer 2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism, also recorded triple-digit growth.

*Total ETH held by wallets with 1,000 to 100,000 ETH. Source:* *Santiment*

Despite the whale buying and adoption, Ether is still only up 1.8% and 3.8% over the last 14 and 30 days, CoinGecko data shows. Ether is trading at $2,575, down nearly 48% from its all-time high.

Spot ETH ETH inflow record finally snapped

Increasing institutional confidence in ETH has also been seen in the spot ETF market, with US-based Ether products going on a 19-day inflow streak before snapping on Friday.

The spot ETH ETF recorded net outflows of $2.1 million on the day, ending the longest inflow streak since the products launched in July 2024, according to Farside data.

The 19-day streak saw a combined $1.37 billion flow into the spot Ether ETFs, mostly into the BlackRock-issued iShares Ethereum Trust ETF.

First Ethereum treasury stock tanks

Meanwhile, shares in sports betting platform SharpLink Gaming plummeted 73% in after-hours trading last Thursday after filing to register a large volume of shares for potential resale — a move that seemingly didn’t sit well with investors who bought in on the firm’s Ether treasury plan.

However, Sharplink Gaming chairman Joseph Lubin, who is also CEO of blockchain software firm Consensys, said market watchers misinterpreted the filing.

Sharplink announced plans to sell up to $1 billion in common shares on May 30, with most of the proceeds intended to purchase ETH.

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