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As earlier reported, Bitcoin <\/span>holders have <\/span><\/a>steadily held on to their coins in the past few months. Bitcoin whales, in particular, seem to be doubling despite the current uncertainty in Bitcoin\u2019s future projection. Long-term holders add an <\/span>average of 50,000 BTC<\/span><\/a> to their wallets every month, as indicated by the HODLer Net Position Change indicator provided by Glassnode.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On the other hand, <\/span>whales of Ethereum<\/span><\/a>, the second largest crypto in the world, appear to be on a different trajectory. On-chain data has shown that while Bitcoin whales hoard their coins, Ethereum whales appear to be dumping their holdings in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n Bitcoin whales, meaning the largest holders with 1000 BTC or greater, have been steadily accumulating more BTC since 2018, according to data from on-chain analytics firms. However, there have been sell-offs, either through extended bear markets or during profit-taking after a strong bullish uptrend.<\/span><\/p>\n A research analyst for Cryptoslate named James Straten posted<\/a> on social media that Ethereum whales with more than 1,000 ETH have been selling since the same period. While sharing a Glassnode chart, he shared a correlation between the whales of the blockchains. <\/span><\/p>\n On-chain data shows ETH whales have offloaded 20 million ETH since 2022, with <\/span>12 million ETH being sold<\/span><\/a> off this year alone.<\/span><\/p>\n The story these on-chain metrics tell provides insight into the prevailing mood among large crypto holders of different blockchains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although the amount of ETH held by whales might indicate they have <\/span>sold or moved their funds<\/span><\/a> to other cryptocurrencies, a better possibility is that these whales transferred their ETH into Ethereum smart contracts. Since <\/span>Ethereum version 2.0<\/span><\/a> kickstarted its journey in December 2020, the number of tokens in the staking protocol has grown significantly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ETH 2.0 requires validators to stake 32 ETH in its deposit contract to validate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. At the moment, <\/span>the contract now has<\/span><\/a> 31.2 million ETH worth $48.6 billion locked. This seems consistent with on-chain data, which shows that the percentage of supply tied in smart contracts overtook the supply in addresses holding 1000+ ETH in late 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Crypto research analyst Andr\u00e9 Dragosch shared<\/a> this correlation on social media platform X. The correlation buttresses that the Glassnode data doesn\u2019t consider the ETH tied in smart contracts for its whale supply metric.<\/span><\/p>\n With a domination of 17.8% over the whole cryptocurrency market, the Ethereum blockchain continues to solidify its position as the undisputed leader of smart contracts. Unlike Bitcoin whales, bullish ETH whales are <\/span>not just HODLing<\/span><\/a> but employing techniques to maximize their crypto gains. <\/span><\/p>\nBitcoin Whales Buying More, Ethereum Whales Selling<\/h2>\n
Possible Explanation For The Contrasting Whale Activity<\/h2>\n