Early Ethereum Investor’s 48.5K Move Piles the Heat on ETH

• Ethereum has been under pressure in the past week.
• An early Ethereum Investor has sparked concern with significant asset transfers.
• The transfer comes as market uncertainty remains following a recent crash.

On the heels of one the most brutal market crashes the crypto sector has experienced since the FTX collapse , investors in Ethereum (ETH) , the second largest crypto asset by market cap, have been left feeling intense heat amid selling from Jump Crypto , the U.S. government , and even China . A week after the crash, ETH holders appear to have no respite in sight.

An early investor in the asset with holdings worth billions of dollars is turning up the heat with massive ETH transfers to an exchange.

Ethereum (ETH) ICO Participant Offloads 48,500 ETH on OKX

An early Ethereum investor has sparked concern with a significant asset transfer to OKX. On Monday, August 12, onchain analyst “ember” highlighted that an Ethereum holder who accumulated 1 million ETH during the project’s ICO had sent 48,500 ETH worth over $154 million to OKX over the past month. The most recent transfer saw the whale send 5000 ETH worth over $13 million to the exchange on Sunday, August 11.

Concerns over the move come as the whale still sits on a massive ETH stash in significant profit, which could compound the asset’s price woes if they are sold. According to ember, the whale still holds at least 682,000 ETH worth over $1.75 billion. While a significant chunk of these, about 400,000 ETH, are staked , over 280,000 ETH worth over $725 million remains free.

The report of the ICO whale’s exchange deposits comes as crypto assets appear to have shed their weekend optimism.

Ethereum (ETH) Slides 7% in Broad Market Correction

Over the weekend, many crypto assets, including Ethereum (ETH), enjoyed significant rallies to erase most of the losses endured in the market crash. At the start of this week, however, most of the weekend gains have been erased, with ETH dropping from highs of over $2,700 to trade around the $2,500 price point at press time, representing an over 7% decline. 

The recent market correction comes as the U.K. and the U.S. are set to release the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for July 2024 on Wednesday, August 14. 

On the Flipside

• What the Ethereum ICO participant intends to do with their remaining ETH holdings remains unclear.
• Despite wavering market sentiment, spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of over $100 million last week.

Why This Matters

Sentiment around Ethereum has significantly dampened in recent weeks as the asset continues to underperform other leading assets like Bitcoin and Solana. Recent selling pressure from large asset holders like the Ethereum ICO participant adds to the worsening sentiment.

Read this for more on Ethereum:
Ethereum ETF Sees $105M Surge Amidst Shadows of a Death Cross

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