Whales buy Ethereum in silence as prices stagnate

The great eth holders have accumulated at the end of 2024 and 2025, even when retail balances decrease, according to Nansen's data.

Although the price of ethereum (eth) has dropped more than 44% this year and quotes around $ 1,900, some large investors are still added to their holdings, according to data in the Nansen chain shared with crypto.News.

While smaller eth holders have been reducing their balances, whales that have between 10,000 and 100,000 eth have increased their holdings by more than 12% in early 2025.

“The 10K-100K segment saw a growth of more than 12% in 2025 only in its total eth balances, while the 1K-10K segment saw a 3% increase in their ytd holdings.”

Nansen

At the same time, the activity of the ethereum network seems to have slowed down, with the average gas prices, according to reports, falling almost 50 times since the beginning of 2024, while part of the activity seems to have changed to Solana Networks (Sun) and Layer 2, suggests the report.

ethereum also faces a growing competition, with Nansen saying that the network is “competing on all fronts and runs the risk of being a” Jack of all trades but teacher of none “compared to btc, Sol and Aunt.”

Despite the accumulation of some whales, the broader trend remains uncertain since eth leaves “much to be desired in many of the chain's metrics,” says Nansen, adding that the asset has “a low severe performance both on the road and on the way down.”

In order for eth to reverse his long -term bearish trend against btc, “the significant changes would have to happen,” Nansen's analysts claim, although it is not clear if any short -term catalyst could change the feeling of the market.