Increased Ethereum Accumulation by Whales
Despite Ethereum’s price being at the same level as three years ago, the ETH holdings of large investors have tripled. Crypto whales appear unfazed by recent market volatility, maintaining their ETH positions. This indicates a strong belief among these whales in the long-term appreciation of Ethereum.
By accumulating large amounts of ETH, these whales show confidence in the ongoing improvements to the Ethereum network and its growing adoption. The large ETH holdings removed from the regular trading market reduce the available supply, which, with steady or increasing demand, could positively impact Ethereum’s price.
Faster Decline of Ethereum on Exchanges Compared to Bitcoin
The outflow of Ethereum and Bitcoin from centralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, and Bitpanda continues. According to the latest data from Glassnode, the percentage of ETH on all exchanges dropped from over 16% in March 2023 to 10.66% in May 2024. Bitcoin has seen a similar, but less pronounced, trend, decreasing from about 13% to 11.85% over the same period.
This trend reflects growing investor distrust in the security of centralized exchanges. Many investors prefer to store their cryptocurrencies in more secure hardware wallets and are more likely to hold (hodl) their assets long-term.
The sharper decline in ETH compared to BTC could suggest that investors are increasingly using their Ether in the DeFi space, benefiting from lending, staking, and other investment opportunities. This tendency implies that investors have a more optimistic long-term outlook for Ethereum, driven by its diverse use cases.