According to on-chain data, the appetite of crypto whales for Bitcoin and Ethereum intensified in April despite the market volatility.
April was marked with several sharp price swings. Both leading cryptocurrencies set new all-time highs but also corrected sharply on different occasions. But this was not enough to stop whales from accumulating sizeable portions.
On-chain data from Santiment suggests that large Bitcoin wallets have expanded their holdings by nearly 100,000 coins in the past few weeks. Similarly, Ethereum witnessed an increase in whale activity.
Santiment classifies whale accounts as wallets that hold at least 10,000 coins. These “uber large” addresses “continue to get richer and accumulate as price range.” Santiment asserts that Bitcoin whales have added roughly 90,000 units to their stash since April 5.
The number of Ethereum whale addresses rose to a new record of 1,311. These big-money players now hold more than 80 million ETH. This accounts for nearly 70% of ETH’s current supply, meaning that less than 1,400 entities are holding the bulk of ETH’s total circulating supply.
The accumulation was not limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Ripple’s XRP also saw increased whale activity.
Ethereum’s surge in activity may be linked to its recent Berlin upgrade and the upcoming London hard fork. In the case of XRP, it may be due to the few wins in the ongoing legal case against the U.S. SEC.