The recent resurgence of a notable Ethereum (ETH) whale, identified as 0x496, marks a significant development in the cryptocurrency landscape. After a five-year period of partial dormancy, this entity deposited 39,260 ETH, valued at approximately $87.6 million, into the Kraken exchange. The transaction was executed at a price of $2,232 per ETH. The movement was flagged by the on-chain analytics platform Spotonchain on X.
Tracing back the whale’s transaction history reveals a strategic pattern of investments and withdrawals. In 2017, the whale withdrew 47,260 ETH from Poloniex, which was then valued at $50 million, at an average price of $240. This was followed by an alleged sale of 8,000 ETH through Cumberland OTC in September 2018, amounting to roughly $1.78 million at a rate of $223 per ETH.
The recent deposit of 39,260 ETH to Kraken is the latest significant move by this whale, resulting in an estimated profit of $39.4 million, a 78.8% increase. The whale’s total estimated profit from ETH could be as high as $78 million, assuming a complete sell-off at current market prices.
Meanwhile, another prominent Ethereum whale has been active in the market, as reported by blockchain tracker Lookonchain. This “giant whale” acquired over $76.8 million worth of ETH since September, realizing a profit of about $13.3 million. The whale’s strategy included the use of the decentralized stablecoin DAI for many of these purchases.
Amidst this backdrop, Ethereum’s value has been on an upward trajectory since mid-October, recently breaking the $2,200 mark for the first time since last year’s Terra collapse. At the time of writing, ETH was trading around $2,234, reaching a 20-month high. The asset’s market capitalization has escalated to $268 billion, with a market dominance of 17.3%. Ethereum’s 24-hour trading volume has also increased by more than 15%, exceeding $25 billion.
Previously, Market intelligence platform Santiment reported a rise in the number of wallets holding between 0.1 and 1 ETH, reaching a 14-week high of 3.35 million. In contrast, the number of whale wallets containing between 100 and 1,000 ETH has been declining since early March. Ethereum’s total open interest has also been rising, from $4.4 billion on December 3 to $4.43 billion at the time of writing.
