On-chain data shows one whale is rapidly accumulating Ethereum (ETH) by selling large amounts of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) through the popular non-custodial protocol Aave.
The whale borrowed WBTC from Aave to purchase ETH.
As of February 16th, LookOnChain data The whale was found to have borrowed 280 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), worth about $14.6 million from Aave, one of the leading DeFi protocols.
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The whale then purchased 5,150 ETH. Whales are actively purchasing ETH through decentralized protocols rather than centralized exchanges. This move shows that traders expect ETH to outperform digital gold in the coming sessions.
It is not immediately clear what is causing the whales to accumulate ETH and dump the resurgent Bitcoin. However, what is known is that Ethereum has been outperforming Bitcoin in price and various other metrics since mid-January.
For example, ETH is up about 13% against BTC over the last trading month. Despite the ETH price cooling off from its January highs, the upward trend still remains. Looking at the trend on the daily chart, BTC’s gains made up for losses against ETH.
Despite this, they failed to fully recover the losses recorded in January. So far, immediate support is at 0.052 BTC, currently hitting the February low. Nonetheless, sharp losses below this important support could strengthen BTC in the short to medium term.
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Despite crypto whales opting for ETH, the broader cryptocurrency community remains bullish on Bitcoin. On the daily chart, BTC has reached around 2024 highs, its highest in over two years. Experts and analysts predict further gains in the future. If BTC holds above the psychological support of $50,000, the odds of the world’s most valuable coin rising above $70,000 remain high.
Billions of dollars are flowing into Bitcoin.
Wall Street and retail investors are pouring billions of dollars into BTC after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). At the same time, the general investor and trader sentiment is that Bitcoin will rise significantly considering the expected supply shock once the network halves miner rewards in early April. Then, if current demand holds, the resulting imbalance could push BTC up to six figures.
Meanwhile, the rise in Bitcoin prices has boosted altcoins, and Ethereum has seen its dollar rise over the past few weeks. The coin’s upper limit is below $3,000, but proponents expect more gains in the medium term, reading the expanded total value locked (TVL) as per DeFiLlama data and citing defi improvement.
Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView