Large cryptocurrency investors, commonly known as whales, are purchasing hundreds of millions of Ether, as experts highlight a natural shift in investor interest towards altcoins with higher growth potential.
According to blockchain data platform Arkham, nine significant whale addresses collectively purchased $456 million worth of Ether (ETH) from Bitgo and Galaxy Digital, as reported in a Tuesday X post.
The increasing demand from whales for the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency indicates a “natural rotation” into Ether and other altcoins with greater upside potential, as stated by Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
“Much of this appears to be a natural rotation, with investors taking profits from Bitcoin’s increase and reallocating into other tokens for potential gains,” the analyst explained to Cointelegraph, adding:
“Ether is particularly benefiting from strong current interest and momentum fueled by Ether treasury companies.”
While the recent movements of Ether whales are “noteworthy,” the “overall trend shows that flows are diversifying beyond Bitcoin as market participants seek the next opportunity,” the analyst noted.
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Still, the rising Bitcoin profit-taking might signal a shift in “investor mindshare” toward Ether, Sondergaard added.
Crypto analyst Willy Woo also noted the increasing capital migration from Bitcoin (BTC) into Ether.
“Flows into ETH, at $0.9B USD per day (silver), are now nearing BTC’s inflows (orange),” the analyst wrote in a Tuesday X post, adding that the recent streak of inflows “began when Tom Lee’s ETH treasury company, BitMine, commenced their ETH accumulation.”
These statements followed a transaction where a Bitcoin whale valued at over $11 billion sold $2.59 billion worth of Bitcoin, reallocating the funds into a $2.2 billion spot Ether 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 top cryptocurrency traders, tracked as “smart money” on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, are already transitioning into altcoins, boosting expectations for a 2025 altcoin season.
In examining their largest capital token purchases, smart money traders secured $1.2 million in Chainlink (LINK) tokens, $967,000 in Ethena (ENA), and $614,000 in Lido DAO (LDO) tokens, as per Nansen data.
The growing acquisitions of LINK may have been triggered by Bitwise Asset Management’s filing to launch a LINK-based exchange-traded fund with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday.
However, these total altcoin purchases pale in comparison to the $28 million Ether acquired by a previously inactive whale since 2021, Cointelegraph noted on Tuesday.
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