Ethereum Whales Feast While Retail Flees—ETH Ocean Just Got Hungrier

In the past month, big Ethereum wallets have been quietly piling on more Ether while small investors pull their profits. Activity on the network has been choppy but the heavy hitters have not slowed down. Retail traders, by contrast, have been cashing out as prices hover in a narrow range.

According to data from Santiment, wallets holding between 1,000 and 100,000 ETH have added a net total of nearly 1.5 million ETH over the last 30 days. That boost represents a 3.70% rise in their combined holdings.

These so‑called whales and sharks now control over 41 million ETH, or about a quarter of all Ether in circulation. It’s a clear sign that large traders see value in Ethereum at these levels, even as the market trades sideways.

There are currently 6,392 wallets holding between 1K and 100K Ethereum. Over the past month alone, these key whale and shark wallets have rapidly added more coins as retail traders have taken profit.

During these past 30 days, a net of +1.49M more $ETH has been accumulated by… pic.twitter.com/1hPBTuAOrL

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) June 13, 2025

Ethereum’s price action has been muted. Based on reports from CoinGecko, Ether is up 5% in the last 14 days and 5.4% over the past month. It’s trading around $2,625 almost 45% below its all‑time high. The slow grind suggests neither buyers nor sellers have full conviction. Still, big holders continue to stack coins, waiting for the next catalyst.

On‑chain data shows whales directing attention to specific services. Transaction volume in Ethereum Name Service jumped over 300% in the second week of July. Lending protocols on Ethereum saw a more than 200% rise.

Meanwhile, transfers of USDC on layer 2 networks—Base, Arbitrum and Optimism—all posted triple‑digit gains. These numbers point to growing use of scaling layers and services beyond simple trading.

Institutional interest has been strong too. US spot Ether products saw inflows for 19 straight days before a small pullback. That streak brought in $1.37 billion, mostly into BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust.

On the day the run ended, the funds recorded just a little over $2 million in outflows. It’s a minor wobble in what has so far been a solid embrace of Ether by big financial firms.

Meanwhile, big wallets keep buying while smaller traders lock in gains. Network activity on services and layer 2s is surging. And institutions are still putting fresh dollars into Ethereum via ETFs.

For now, Ether sits in a tight range. But when demand meets a clear price trigger, that quiet build‑up of coins in big wallets could push things to the upside.

Featured image from Imagen, chart from TradingView