Whales Feast: Institutional Giants Gobble Up $4.16B in Ethereum Tokens Amid Market Frenzy
Crypto whales are back—and they’ve got an appetite for ETH. Institutional players just dropped a staggering $4.16 billion on Ethereum tokens in 30 days, signaling a bullish stampede into smart contract platforms. Forget dipping toes—these guys are diving headfirst.
Why the buying spree? Some speculate it’s a hedge against inflation (or maybe just FOMO dressed up as strategy). Others whisper about accumulation before a major protocol upgrade. Either way, Wall Street’s playing with crypto like a kid in a sandbox—except the sand is worth billions.
One thing’s clear: When whales move, markets ripple. And right now, they’re making waves. Just don’t ask if they’ll remember to HODL when the SEC comes knocking.
Are Institutions Behind Ethereum’s Recent Price Surge?
In a recent post on the X platform, EmberCN revealed that multiple unknown whales or institutions have accumulated more than 1.035 million ETH tokens (worth around $4.167 billion) since July 10, 2025. According to the on-chain analytics firm, this buying spree occurred through exchanges or institutional trading platforms, including Kraken, FalconX, Galaxy Digital, Binance, and Coinbase.
EmberCN, in the post on X, postulated that most of the addresses that amassed these substantial amounts of Ethereum tokens are likely owned by institutions or US-based public companies building ETH reserves. The analytics, however, excluded SBET (SharpLink Gaming), as its addresses are known and identifiable.
SharpLink’s Ethereum accumulation spree has been well documented over the past month, acquiring hundreds of thousands of Ether tokens in the space of a month. As Bitcoinist reported, the marketing company expects to expand its ETH-focused treasury to up to $5 billion.
This accumulation trend correlates with a period of positive price action, with Ethereum surging from $2,600 to over $4,000—more than a 45% increase in the last 30 days. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the average acquisition price for these institutional purchases is pegged at around $3,546.
As of this writing, the Ethereum token is valued at around $4,260, reflecting an over 5% increase in the past 24 hours. Data from CoinGecko shows that the second-largest cryptocurrency has increased in value by more than 25% in the last seven days.
Arthur Hayes Re-Acquires ETH Token At Higher Prices
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes revealed that he has bought back all of his Ethereum tokens after a significant sell-off last week. According to on-chain data, Hayes sold 2,373 ETH tokens (equivalent to $8.32 million at the time of sale) at around $3,507.
The price of ETH has increased by more than 20% since then, prompting the BitMEX co-founder to “undo” his trade. On Saturday, August 9, Hayes used $10.5 million worth of USDC to purchase fresh Ethereum tokens at around $4,150.
Hayes said on X:
Had to buy it all back, do you forgive me @fundstrat? (referring to Tom Lee, the chief investment officer at Fundstrat Capital and head of research at FS Insight). I pinky swear, I’ll never take profit again.
