New data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode show that Ethereum whales buying the cryptocurrency in the past has reduced drastically. The Post-Shanghai era for Ethereum (ETH) saw the giant Ethereum whales leaving their trading positions due to bearish sentiments.
Big investors are removing their funds from the cryptocurrency amidst an impending bearish market. On the other hand, the same data shows that more investors with one or fewer Ethereum tokens have been investing more in ETH. It seems there's an ongoing shift in the overview of Ethereum investors. The number of addresses held by whales has decreased, and the ones owned by "shrimps" have increased.
Before the Post-Shanghai era for Ethereum (ETH), many analysts predicted that the Shanghai project would help attract more whale investors. But it seems the reverse is the case at the moment. The number of incoming Ethereum transactions done by whales has reduced by a wide margin. The drop in whale numbers seems to be a change in the outlook of the Ethereum network. While whales see bearish signs within the short term, shrimps or low-level investors see the current Ethereum situation as an opportunity to get into the project.
Before Shapella was added to the Shanghai project, ETH in wallets above 1000 – 10000 ETH stood at 14.167 million ETH. But after many weeks of the Shapella update, the network has considerably reduced these addresses. From 14.167 million, the figure has reduced to an underwhelming 14.033 million ETH. But weeks before this significant update, Ethereum witnessed its highest transaction rate in 2023. More than 14.303 million ETH was acquired by Whales just weeks before this update took place.
Shrimps Adding More ETH to Their Wallet
The number of shrimps adding more Ethereum tokens to their wallets has increased significantly compared to other classes of investors in the Ethereum blockchain. Not only whales but even smaller investors have also seen their number reduce by a wide margin. Smaller investors with between 1 to 1,000 ETH tokens have also seen a decrease in Ethereum transactions. The lowest class of investors (shrimps) have seen their net position increase from 1.79 million to 1.80 million ETH.
Since the Shapella upgrade happened on April 12th, it allowed investors to withdraw any of their staked tokens. This is the first time investors will withdraw their staked assets since the Merge. The Ethereum Merge was a mega event that allowed the Ethereum blockchain to transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake protocol.
Ethereum Price Outlook
In the first 4 months of 2023, Ethereum has seen some excellent days allowing investors to make money from the cryptocurrency. Starting the year at $1,197, Ethereum has made huge increases as its price has moved to $1,821 at the time of writing. This is massive progress for the Ethereum network and its community.
However, the Ethereum price in recent days has not been looking good. For the past 24 hours, the price has been down by more than 1%, showing signs of more downgrading.