Whales holding millions of ETH make up almost a third of the total supply; this is the highest level in more than seven years.
According to the latest data from on-chain analytics provider Santiment, Ethereum is concentrated in the hands of whales.
On October 18, Santiment reported that billionaire Ethereum investors with more than 1 million ETH held 32.2% of the available supply for the first time since 2016.
Additionally, Ethereum transactions exceeding $1 million reached the second highest day in a month.
Ethereum Sale Continues
With whales controlling a third of the supply, Ethereum has become concentrated in the hands of the rich. However, Santiment did not specify whether these figures include organizations such as centralized exchanges or stablecoin issuers that hold a lot of ETH.
But what is being analyzed is selling patterns and whales have been dumping ETH for the last few months.
According to data from Glassnode, there is a "striking difference" in the behavior of major Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, indicating divergent views among crypto whales.
Since 2020, Ethereum whales, or those with more than 1,000 ETH, have been gradually reducing their holdings. This resulted in sales of approximately $20 million in ETH.
However, according to data shared by CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin whales with more than 1,000 BTC primarily preserved their assets.
However, despite the start of withdrawals in April, the Ethereum staking narrative has never been stronger, with more assets being staked than ever before.
There is currently a record 27.6 million ETH staked worth $43.4 billion, according to Beaconcha.in . This represents approximately 23% of the total supply.
Additionally, this supply has decreased by 260,640 ETH or $409 million since the Merger in September of last year, according to Ultrasound.Money .
ETH Price Drop
Neither bullish staking or deflationary supply fundamentals have yet overcome Ethereum's decline.
ETH is trading at $1,568, down another 1.3% on the day. The asset lost 4.5% in value in the last two weeks and continues to decline along with other altcoins.
Ethereum is currently down 68% from its all-time high, while Bitcoin, which has performed better this week, is down 59% from its peak.