Large investors, known as cryptocurrency whales, are acquiring hundreds of millions in Ether, as analysts indicate a natural shift of investor interest toward altcoins with greater upside potential.
Nine significant whale addresses purchased a total of $456 million worth of Ether (ETH) from Bitgo and Galaxy Digital, according to blockchain data platform Arkham in a Tuesday X post.
The rising demand from whales for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency suggests a “natural rotation” into Ether and other altcoins with more potential, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
“Much of this seems like a natural rotation, with investors taking profits from Bitcoin’s surge and reallocating into other tokens for possible gains,” Sondergaard told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Ether, in particular, is gaining due to its current mindshare and momentum from Ether treasury companies.”
While recent whale activities in Ether are “noteworthy,” the “overall trend indicates that investments are diversifying beyond Bitcoin as market participants search for new opportunities,” the analyst stated.
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Meanwhile, the increasing profit-taking from Bitcoin may signal a shift in “investor mindshare” towards Ether, Sondergaard noted.
Crypto analyst Willy Woo also highlighted the increasing capital shift from Bitcoin (BTC) into Ether.
“Inflows into ETH, at 0.9B USD per day (silver), are now nearing BTC’s levels (orange),” the analyst stated in a Tuesday X post, mentioning that the recent flow of funds “started when Tom Lee’s ETH treasury company, BitMine, began accumulating ETH.”
These comments followed the sale of over $2.59 billion worth of Bitcoin by a whale worth more than $11 billion, which redirected funds into a $2.2 billion spot Ether purchase and a $577 million Ether perpetual long position on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, Cointelegraph reported.
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Smart money traders are buying altcoins: Nansen data
The industry’s leading cryptocurrency traders, referred to as “smart money” on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, are already moving into altcoins, fueling expectations of an altcoin season in 2025.
According to their most notable large-cap token purchases, smart money traders bought $1.2 million worth of Chainlink (LINK) tokens, $967,000 worth of Ethena (ENA), and $614,000 worth of Lido DAO (LDO) tokens, Nansen data reveals.
The rising acquisitions of LINK may be in response to Bitwise Asset Management’s application to launch a LINK-based exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday.
However, these total altcoin acquisitions are small compared to the $28 million in Ether obtained by a dormant whale who had not been active since 2021, Cointelegraph also reported on Tuesday.
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