A whale has recently sold a combined total of 31,000 ETH, valued at $79.1 million, contributing to a significant 4% decline in Ether price.
Ethereum’s market is facing renewed uncertainty as Ether ETH $1 823 24h volatility: 1.8% Market cap: $220.12 B Vol. 24h: $25.12 B price drop. Adding to that, a major whale, an early participant in the 2014 Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO), is unloading a large amount of ETH.
On October 3, onchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that this whale sold 19,000 ETH, worth around $47.5 million, over the past two days. The recent sell-off adds to the 12,000 ETH, valued at $31.6 million, that the entity had sent to Kraken in late September.
The whale, which initially accrued 150,000 ETH during Ethereum’s ICO, has seen the value of its holdings grow from $46,500 to almost $400 million today. Interestingly, if ETH had reached its all-time high of $4,891, last recorded in November 2021, the holdings would have been worth around $750 million.
Adding to the unease is Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s recent actions, where he offloaded 1,300 ETH within a span of 12 days, sending it to Paxos in late September.
Ether Price Action
The timing of this sell-off coincides with an ongoing slump in Ether’s price, which has seen the asset drop nearly 10% in the first few days of October. As of October 1, the second-largest cryptocurrency was trading around $2,650. However, by October 3, it had fallen to a low of $2,365, marking a 4.6% decline in the last 24 hours. This drop has outpaced the broader crypto market’s decline of 2.6%.
The ETH/BTC trading pair has also suffered, falling to a ratio of 0.039, levels not seen since April 2021, further fueling concerns over Ethereum’s underperformance this year.
Many believe that the recent price action has merely amplified the ongoing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) surrounding Ethereum. Social media platforms like X recorded a sudden spike in debates among Ether critics and supporters.
Last week, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who was an early co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, remarked that Ethereum largely depends on its co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He raised concerns about the network’s future development if Buterin were no longer involved.
Optimism
Despite the swirling FUD, Ethereum proponents remain optimistic about the network’s long-term prospects. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano dismissed the negativity, stating that “the FUD is never-ending, and most people in this industry don’t actually care about the truth”.
Additionally, former Sushi CTO Joseph Delong expressed confidence in Ethereum’s future, noting that upcoming upgrades designed to enhance account abstraction and authentication could onboard the next billion users.
Notably, Ethereum has produced nine chains with a gross profit of more than $140 million over the past year. According to data from DeFiLlama, the Ethereum Network currently holds a total value locked (TVL) of $45.32 billion, having doubled in value over the past year.
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