TL;DR
- Massive ETH Whale Movement: A dormant ETH whale moved $90 million worth of ETH to Kraken, signaling potential selling pressure on the market.
- Market Impact: The transfer could affect ETH’s market by at least 2%, with implications for Kraken’s trading depth and broader market dynamics.
- Crypto Market Trends: The event aligns with increased whale activity and a bullish trend in altcoins, indicating a possible shift in market behavior.
Massive Crypto Whale Wakes Up, Chooses Violence
The crypto community was alerted this week of a massive ETH whale that has moved nearly $90 million worth of ETH to Kraken, Lookonchain first reported.
What set the alarms off is that the whale remained dormant for at least five years and is most likely looking to sell, which could put significant downward pressure on the second-largest crypto-asset, which recently tested $2.2k.
Lookonchain said the whale deposited 39,260 ether to Kraken during the Asian morning hours. The address previously received 47,260 ether in a single transaction in 2017, valued at over $11 million.
An early $ETH whale appears to be selling ETH again after being dormant for 5 years.
The whale deposited all 39,260 $ETH($87.5M) to #Kraken 30 mins ago.
The whale received 47,260 $ETH($11.34M) at ~$240 from June to August 2017.
If sold the whale would make a profit of ~$78M. pic.twitter.com/v0PI4LNTKO
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) December 5, 2023
Moreover, it doesn’t seem like the address is linked to an exchange’s cold storage. However, further analysis from Arkham suggests one transaction might be connected to a trading firm called Cumberland, a crypto trading firm and liquidity provider for institutional clients.
How Much Could This Sell-off Affect ETH?
As of Tuesday morning, data indicates Kraken’s current market depth for ETH trading pairs exceeds $5 million. If the whale executes a buy or sale order of this magnitude, it could impact the market by at least 2% in either direction.
Whale activity has increased significantly as the crypto market shows bullish signs. Besides Bitcoin, most altcoins have performed exceptionally well during Q3. Some of the most traded tokens in November were XRP, LINK, and SOL, which saw significant price gains that month as BTC’s dominance waned.
While some whales could be taking profits, others position themselves for a potential altcoin season. As CryptoPotato reported, A popular crypto analyst has identified a Golden Cross —a bullish pattern that has historically coincided with altcoin rallies.
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