The number of Ethereum (ETH) whales has been on the rise in recent months, as investors continue to accumulate the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency.
According to data, these whales now control a massive 30.07 million ETH, marking a significant rise from the 26.56 million ETH they held at the start of 2023.
This growth, representing an increase in holdings of addresses that own over 0.1% of the supply, suggests ongoing and enthusiastic accumulation of the digital currency by market participants.
There are a number of factors that could be driving the rise of Ethereum whales. One possibility is the increasing popularity of Ethereum’s Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
With Ethereum’s transition from the energy-intensive Proof of Work (PoW) model to PoS, many ETH holders have been motivated to acquire additional tokens to stake and participate as validators.
It is worth noting that even Ethereum staking deposits have witnessed a significant uptick since the launch of the highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade, which introduced key enhancements to the Ethereum network such as the enablement of staked ETH.
Another possibility is the growing confidence in Ethereum’s long-term potential. The network has been making significant progress in recent months, with the launch of the EVM-compatible Optimism Layer 2 solution and the upcoming launch of the highly anticipated Merge.
These developments have helped to boost investor confidence in Ethereum, which has led to increased demand for the asset.
Whatever the reasons, the rise of Ethereum whales is a positive sign for the network. It suggests that there is a strong underlying demand for ETH, which could help to support the price of the asset in the long term.
In addition to the rise in the number of whales, it is also worth noting that the average holding size of Ethereum whales has also been increasing.
This suggests that whales are becoming increasingly bullish on Ethereum, and are willing to accumulate larger and larger amounts of the asset.
