Large Ethereum whales have increased their ETH holdings, now owning 43.7% of the total ETH supply

By Selena On Aug 13, 2021

According to Santiment, Ethereum large whales, whose wallets hold more than 100,000 ETH, have primarily increased their holdings over the past three years. Now, these whales are holding almost half of the total Ethereum supply. At press time, ETH is changing hands at $3,242, up more than 18% in the past seven days.

ETH/USD 4-hour chart | Source: TradingView

100,000 Ethereum whales riches grow 8%

Meanwhile, as Ethereum options open interest has hit the $4 billion level (its highest since May), according to Bybt, it may signify that the crypto market is getting overheated.

According to research from Santiment, Ethereum whales continue to accumulate the second-largest cryptocurrency. Compared to three years ago, wallets holding more than 100,000 ETH have increased the amount of crypto by 7.9%. After owning 35.8% of the entire circulating supply of ETH at the time, they now hold 43.7% of ETH.

Source: Santiment

On August 11, 2018, Ethereum price was trading at $322. Meanwhile, ETH is changing hands at $3,242. Earlier this year, on May 12, it hit a new all-time high of $4,362. Previously, Santiment also showed that the most significant crypto whales (those on the “millionaire tier” level) now own 39.2% of the total supply of the second-biggest crypto, Ethereum. These “millionaire tier” wallets hold from 1,000 to 100,000 ETH each. That was covered before the London hardfork when ETH reached a peak of $2,691.

This significant and long-anticipated ETH upgrade will be a crucial part of the Ethereum transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm and the dumping of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) one used by multiple cryptos, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin.

Given the current state of ETH, many predict ETH is expected to be worth $4,596 by the end of 2021, according to the average forecast from experts in Finder’s Ethereum prediction report.

Finder surveyed 42 crypto experts, with more than 25 providing ETH price predictions for the end of 2021 and the end of 2025 and 2030. While the panel on average sees ETH ending 2021 at $4,596, those projections get even juicier going forward, with the average forecast for 2025 hitting $17,810 and 2030 cresting $71,763.

The flippening, the hypothetical event in which ETH overtakes BTC as the most prominent cryptocurrency by market cap, is probably in the cards, according to 68% of the panel. But when that happens is a whole other question.

When do you think the market cap of Ethereum will be worth more than Bitcoin? | Source: Finder

A quarter of panelists see the flippening happening in 2023, with 15% believing it’ll happen in 2022 and another 15% expecting it to occur in 2025. However, 32.5% of panelists don’t think the flippening will ever happen.

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