On-chain data shows that Ethereum Whales are increasingly accumulating cryptocurrencies as their share of the supply has increased.
Ethereum Whales now hold approximately 43% of the total supply
In a new after On X, market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock shared an update on what Ethereum supply concentration looks like for the major holder groups on the network.
The groups in question here refer to the distributions of the asset’s user base based on holding size. IntoTheBlock has defined three main cohorts: Retail, Investors, and Whales.
The first of these, the Retailincludes the smallest hands in the sector: those who hold less than 0.1% of the ETH supply in circulation. This group represents the everyday investor who does not have much influence on the market.
Once holders exceed this 0.1%, they gain a more important position on the network, although their influence is still limited to the 1%. Users in this range are called the Investors.
Outside this range are the most powerful entities on the network: the WhalesThese holders hold more than 1% of the ETH supply in their balances, which equates to more than $2.83 billion at the current exchange rate.
Below is the chart shared by the analytics firm, which shows how the distribution of Ethereum supply between these three groups has changed over the course of the blockchain’s history.
Looks like the Whales have been increasing their supply share recently | Source: IntoTheBlock on X
The chart shows that the Retail cohort currently makes up nearly half of the circulating Ethereum supply. More specifically, these small hands collectively hold 48% of the ETH supply, with the Whales not far behind at 43%.
While the Whales control a significant portion of the supply today, this was not always the case. As the chart shows, these giant entities had a small market share just a few years ago.
Since then, it seems that big money has become more interested in the coin as it has been consistently collected. Interestingly, the buying by the cohort has accelerated since 2023, when the Shanghai Upgrade went on.
The Shanghai Upgrade was a hard fork of the Ethereum network, allowing investors to unstake their holdings locked in the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) contract.
The acceleration in accumulation by Whales that coincided with this fork may be due to investors becoming more interested in staking, with withdrawals becoming possible.
Many of these holders have deposited their coins via staking pools, which collectively hold vast amounts of coins. With increased interest, these whale entities would see their share of supply increase.
While the interest from the Whales may be positive for the future price growth of the cryptocurrency, the centralization of supply on these few platforms/investors may not be so positive.
ETH Price
At the time of writing, Ethereum is hovering around $2,350, down over 4% in the past seven days.
The price of the coin has made some recovery over the last few days | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView
Main image from Dall-E, IntoTheBlock.com, chart from TradingView.com