TL;DR Breakdown:
- Ethereum whales with at least 1,000 to 100,000 ETH now hold 39.2 percent of the ETH supply.
- There’s currently less than 20 million ETH in all exchange balances.
Both small and deep-pocketed Ethereum investors have been on a buying spree in recent days, following the upcoming London hardfork. Ethereum whales, especially, now hold a significant percentage of all Ether (ETH) in circulation, which helped pushed the price to a nearly 2-month high of $2,691, according to information shared by Santiment.
Over 39% of ETH supply are held by Ethereum whales
According to the data from the crypto insight platform, “million tier” Ethereum whale addresses with 1,000 to 100,000 ETH, now hold 39.2 percent of all ETH in circulation. This is the highest percentage the whales have accumulated since the bear market on May 12. The data indicates Ethereum whales are increasingly accumulating ETH again.
As of July 25, Santiment noted that the top 10 non-exchange Ethereum whales held 21.3 million of ETH supply. This accounted for a five-year high on the ETH held by these addresses.
The buying momentum for ETH comes ahead of the London hardfork, which is expected to be deployed on August 4. The major upgrade contains five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), one of which will subside the need for miners and also introduce a deflationary function that will reduce ETH supply over time.
This particular EIP has been termed “bullish” as it’s likely to add more value to ETH.
ETH balance on exchanges
Due to the growing rate of accumulation, ETH supply on all exchanges has also declined significantly, meaning ETH is gradually becoming scarce. Data from CryptoQuant shows there’s less than 20 million ETH available in all centralized exchanges.
About 2.6 million ETH are locked in Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges, according to DeFiPulse. Only time will time what impact the hardfork will make on ETH price. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at $2,582.
