TL;DR
- Ethereum ICO whale activity: A giant Ethereum ICO whale has been offloading substantial amounts of ETH, recently dumping 5,000 ETH worth $13.2 million to OKX. Despite these transactions, the whale still holds 303.5K ETH valued at $750 million across two wallets.
- Record low gas prices: Ethereum’s median gas price dropped to a five-year low of under 2 gwei on August 10th, a 98% decrease from the year-to-date high. This drop indicates reduced activity on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Market outlook: Ethereum’s price has faced strong selling pressure, dropping below $2,000 and leading to significant liquidations. Analysts suggest Ethereum could see a bullish surge if demand returns.
Recent on-chain data reveals significant activity from Ethereum ICO whales, with one particular whale making headlines. This giant whale, associated with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO), has been offloading substantial amounts of ETH.
A whale who received 1M $ETH in #Ethereum ICO at a price of $0.31 deposited 5,000 $ETH($13.2M) to #OKX again 12 hours ago.
This whale has deposited 48,500 $ETH($154M) to #OKX at an average price of $3,176 in the past month.https://t.co/4AN8voWrFEhttps://t.co/u1zjZ01Ez4 pic.twitter.com/ZDsFCcFiTk
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 12, 2024
As of the latest reports, the whale still holds a total of 303.5K Ethereum, valued at approximately $750 million, across two wallets. According to data from LookOnChain, this whale recently dumped 5,000 ETH, worth $13.2 million, to the crypto exchange OKX.
Since July 8th, the whale has deposited a total of 48,501 ETH, valued at $154 million, to OKX at an average price of $3,173 per ETH. Despite these large transactions, the whale’s wallet that frequently deposits to OKX still holds 15.6K ETH, worth $39.8 million.
Ethereum Gas Prices Hit Record Lows
In a related development, the Ethereum median gas price dropped to a five-year low, falling below 2 gwei on August 10th. This represents a staggering 98% decrease from the year-to-date high of 83.1 gwei.
While lower transaction fees might seem beneficial, they also indicate a significant drop in activity on the Ethereum blockchain. Earlier in March, the Ethereum Dencun upgrade introduced nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including one aimed at reducing transaction costs through proto-danksharding.
However, the current low gas fees have raised concerns among industry experts. Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann highlighted that gas fees need to be at least 23.9 gwei to adequately fund staking rewards.
ETH Price Action and Market Outlook
The Ethereum price has faced strong selling pressure amid broader market volatility in recent weeks. The price dropped below $2,000 earlier this month, leading to the liquidation of major leveraged long positions.
At the time of writing, Ethereum (ETH), continues its recovering path, increasing nearly 3% in the last 24 hours, and trading slightly below the $2,700 mark, according to CoinMarketCap.
According to CryptoQuant, these liquidations have reached levels not seen since November 2022, contributing to a significant cooling of the futures market.
CryptoQuant analysts suggest that with the futures market potentially reset, Ethereum could be poised for another bullish surge if demand returns. The cooling of the futures market may attract new buyers, stabilize the market, and lead to a potential recovery from the recent downturn.
