Ethereum Spot ETF Hype: ETH Whale Activity 64% More Than BTC

On-chain data shows whale activity on the Ethereum blockchain has been quite high recently due to the excitement around the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

According to data from the on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Ethereum whales have been displaying considerable activity recently. The indicator of relevance here is the “Whale Transaction Count,” which keeps track of the total amount of transfers happening on any given network carrying a value of at least $100,000.

Transfers exceeding this amount are generally associated with the whales, so this indicator’s value can provide insight into the activity of these humongous investors.

When the metric’s value is high, the blockchain is currently observing many large transactions. Such a trend implies the whales have an active interest in trading the asset.

On the other hand, the low indicator suggests the whales may not be paying much attention to the cryptocurrency as they aren’t making that many transfers.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Whale Transaction Count for the top three coins in the sector, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH, and Tether (USDT), since the start of the year:

As is visible in the above graph, the Whale Transaction Count for Ethereum has been the highest out of these three assets recently. More specifically, ETH has seen 77,200 whale transactions since the 17th of this month, notably higher than BTC’s 47,000 or USDT’s 34,100.

The sharp spike in activity for the asset is likely the hype around the spot ETFs, which, after much anticipation, have finally been launched after gaining approval by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Whale Transaction Count would suggest the whales had started repositioning themselves before this launch. It’s hard to say, though, what type of activity exactly these large holders were participating in based on this indicator alone.

Given that the event was considered bullish, it would make sense if the whales were buying. Data from the market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock has confirmed that large holders have recently increased their supply.

IntoTheBlock defines “large holders” as investors who own at least 0.1% of the entire Ethereum supply in circulation. From the chart, it’s apparent that the netflow into the wallets of this cohort has remained positive over the past week, which coincides with the period that the whales have been active.

Yesterday alone, the Ethereum large holders bought 112,900 ETH, equivalent to around $391 million at the current exchange rate. “This accumulation notably surpasses the $106 million net inflows to the ETF,” notes the analytics firm.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at around $3,460, unchanged from one week ago.