Crypto Whales Gobble Up These 3 Altcoins in August 2025’s First Week – Here’s Why

Crypto whales just placed their bets—and these three altcoins are eating well. While retail traders were busy chasing memecoins, the big players quietly stacked their bags. Here’s what moved the needle for them.

### 1. The Layer-1 Dark Horse (That Outran Ethereum)

Gas fees got you down? Whales don’t care—they’re already parked in the next-gen chain that cut settlement times by 80% last quarter. The devs haven’t even released the mainnet upgrade yet.

### 2. The DeFi Blueprint That Actually Prints

Forget ‘yield farming’ relics. This protocol’s vaults spat out 34% APY in Q2 while competitors bled TVL. The kicker? It’s backed by the same market makers who shorted Terra.

### 3. The AI Token That’s Not a Grift (For Once)

No chatbot fluff here—just actual GPU leases on-chain. Whale wallets ballooned 217% after the team inked deals with three Fortune 500s. Even the SEC hasn’t sued them… yet.

Meanwhile, Wall Street still thinks ‘blockchain’ is a type of Excel formula. *sips coffee*

Ethereum (ETH)

Leading altcoin ethereum tops crypto whales’ buy list this week, with a 270% surge in its large-holder netflow, highlighting the scale of accumulation. 

The large holders’ netflow measures the difference between the amount of tokens that whales buy and sell over a given period. When it spikes like this, there is a strong accumulation trend among these coin holders. This indicates growing confidence and a bullish outlook on the asset.

This surge in ETH whale acquisitions has helped push the altcoin past the $4,000 mark, which it last reached in December. If accumulation momentum strengthens, ETH could extend its rally toward the $4,500 region. 

Conversely, if profit-taking resumes, the price may retreat toward $3,920.

PEPE

Solana-based meme coin Pepe is another altcoin that crypto whales have bought this week. On-chain data from Nansen reveals a 1.36% increase in holdings among high-value wallets holding PEPE tokens worth over $1 million. 

When accumulation trends like this emerge among large investors, it signals growing confidence in the asset’s near-term potential. Such strong whale interest can drive increased retail buying, helping sustain and extend PEPE’s recent weekly gains. 

If this accumulation holds steady, the token could climb toward $0.00001315. 

Conversely, if demand wanes, PEPE’s price may slip back to $0.00001070.

Mantle (MNT)

MNT’s 52% weekly rally has put it on the radar of crypto whales this week. On-chain data shows that whales holding between 1 million and 10 million tokens have acquired 2.39 million MNT over the past week.

This group now holds 20 million MNT, marking their highest balance in the past month.

If whale accumulation intensifies, MNT’s price could rally toward $1.1496. 

On the other hand, renewed sell-offs could drive it below $1.0361.