Major market participants continue to increase their exposure to Ethereum (ETH), investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
This comes despite recent price weakness, which has pushed the token down by nearly 3% so far this week. The divergence suggests that while short-term price action remains under pressure, long-term conviction among institutional investors and large “whales” remains firmly intact.
Price Weakness Fails to Deter Large Buyers
Data from BeInCrypto Markets showed that Ethereum continued to struggle amid a broader market pullback. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $2,929.23, down 1.06% over the past 24 hours.
While the decline has unsettled some investors, others appear to be treating it as a buying opportunity. Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain highlighted that BitMine Immersion Technologies purchased 67,886 ETH, worth around $201 million.
That followed an acquisition just one day earlier, when the company bought 29,462 ETH worth $88.1 million from BitGo and Kraken. The back-to-back purchases align with BitMine’s broader accumulation strategy.
Over the past week alone, BitMine acquired a total of 98,852 ETH, lifting its overall Ethereum holdings to more than 4 million tokens. With ETH trading slightly below the company’s average entry price of $2,991, BitMine appears unfazed by recent volatility.
Trend Research Boosts Its Holdings
Another prominent buyer was Trend Research, a secondary investment entity led by Jack Yi, founder of LD Capital. The firm acquired 46,379 ETH on Wednesday, bringing its total holdings to roughly 580,000 ETH.
According to the EmberCN account: “They began accumulating ETH at the lows in early November around the $3,400 level. So far, they have accumulated a total of 580,000 ETH (about $1.72 billion) at an estimated average cost of around $3,208. This implies unrealized losses of roughly $141 million.”
In a public statement, Yi revealed that the firm is preparing to allocate an additional $1 billion toward Ethereum purchases and advised against opening short positions on the token.
Continued On-Chain Whale Activity
Large on-chain whales also remained active. A wallet known as the “66k ETH Borrow” whale, which had previously accumulated 528,272 ETH worth roughly $1.57 billion, added another 40,975 ETH valued at about $121 million.
Lookonchain said: “Since November 4, this whale has purchased a total of 569,247 ETH (worth $1.69 billion), with $881.5 million of those purchases funded through loans from the Aave protocol.”
Meanwhile, Fasanara Capital employed a leveraged strategy, buying 6,569 ETH worth $19.72 million over two days before depositing the tokens into the Morpho protocol. The firm also borrowed $13 million in USDC to acquire additional Ethereum.
Ethereum Whales Split as Buying and Selling Intensify
Not all large players were buyers. Some opted to reduce exposure. BeInCrypto reported that Arthur Hayes transferred 682 ETH, worth nearly $2 million, to Binance on Wednesday.
Lookonchain noted that Hayes sold 1,871 ETH worth $5.53 million over the past week, while purchasing Ethena (ENA), Pendle (PENDLE), and ETHFI.
Hayes wrote on X: “We are reallocating from ETH into high-quality DeFi names that we believe can outperform as fiat liquidity improves.”
Adding to selling pressure, Onchain Lens reported that a long-term Bitcoin whale deposited 100,000 ETH, worth about $292.12 million, into Binance. Such large exchange inflows are often interpreted as potential preparation for selling, though they do not always lead to immediate liquidation.
Earlier, ETHZilla also revealed the liquidation of 24,291 ETH worth roughly $74.5 million to repay senior secured convertible debt. Despite these opposing flows, BeInCrypto noted that selling activity among long-term Ethereum holders has collapsed by more than 95%.
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