Ethereum’s OGs Are Dumping Harder Than Ever—What’s Brewing?

Veteran ETH holders are cashing out at a pace not seen in years—bullish exhaustion or smart profit-taking?

The sell-off surge

Wallets dating back to Ethereum’s early days are moving coins faster than a DeFi exploit drains liquidity. Are we seeing long-term believers lose faith, or just old hands locking in gains before the next market cycle?

Timing the top—or panic selling?

The accelerated exits coincide with ETH hovering below its all-time high. Either these early adopters have insider-level market timing…or they’ve finally succumbed to ‘number go up’ fatigue after a decade of HODLing.

Closing thought: Nothing shakes out weak hands like watching your Lambo dreams get repossessed by a bear market.

Ethereum still carries high unrealized gains

The strategic trading of Ethereum whales means the token currently carries more opportunities to realize profits. The ratio of market value to realized value (MVRV) points to an accumulation of wallets with significant unrealized gains. Negative MVRV is a sign of market capitulation, which ETH has not reached even during previous sell-offs. Historically, ETH spends months with negative MVRV, especially during prolonged bear markets.

The MVRV ratio is at its highest level for 2025, at 2.1 points, potentially causing selling pressure if some of the whales decide to improve their average price. ETH remains actively traded, with some of the supply still used for short-term swapping. 

Ethereum also showed weakness as there are no expectations for an altcoin season. The token may see more active trading as funds change hands. Currently, Ether sentiment is at yearly lows. The ETH fear and greed index is at 29 points, indicating a fearful trading sentiment. 

Seven Siblings wallets buy the dip

ETH has seen ongoing whale activity during market dips. In the past week, significant whales expanded their positions, also including borrowed funds from Aave. 

One of the Seven Siblings wallets accumulated Ether from Uniswap in the past 24 hours, now holding over $260M in various forms of wrapped ETH. 

The other wallet used Cow Protocol for multiple Ethereum purchases, now holding over $322M in various wrapped ETH tokens and other assets. The Seven Siblings wallets absorbed 1.2M Ether during the recent crash, becoming one of the biggest net buyers. This time, the whales aggressively Leveraged their ETH purchases, borrowing $10M on Spark Protocol, signaling confidence in eventual market recovery.

Historically, the involvement of the Seven Siblings connected wallets signals a local bottom for the market. Other whales also bought the dip, absorbing 2.53M coins at $3,150 per Ether, establishing a new zone of support. 

A wallet linked to BitMine also showed buying activity, while another high-profile whale added 16,937 ETH, close to the weekly production of new tokens.

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