ETH Price Risks Crash As Crypto VC Dumps $25M In Ethereum

BlockTower Capital, a prominent crypto venture capital firm, recently executed a significant sale of $25 million Ethereum (ETH). Moreover, other whale movements also weighed on the ETH price as an ICO investor dumped over $154 million in Ether.

BlockTower Capital Dumps $25M Ethereum

BlockTower Capital dumped 9,232 ETH valued at approximately $24.8 million on Tuesday, August 13. These transaction was facilitated through various well-known crypto trading platforms, including FalconX, Cumberland, Wintermute Trading, and B2C2 Group. Specifically, the sales were distributed as follows:

• 3,537.81 ETH via FalconX
• 2,954.28 ETH through B2C2 Group
• 2,090.24 ETH via Wintermute Trading
• 639.28 ETH on Cumberland.

This sudden liquidation has sparked speculation and concern within the crypto community, particularly as it coincides with a broader downturn in institutional buying interest. The crypto market recently experienced a notable decline, with BTC and ETH price dropping by over 4% on Monday.

Moreover, this decline appears to be part of a larger trend, as institutions have seemingly pulled back from significant investments in the market. Lookonchain, a blockchain analytics platform, reported that institutional investors have stopped receiving large amounts of Tether (USDT) from the Tether Treasury and transferring it to major exchanges like Kraken and Binance. This halt in institutional USDT inflows began three days ago.

Meanwhile, it’s important to note that BlockTower Capital faced scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lately. The SEC reportedly subpoenaed three crypto VC firms last week, according to DL News. One of these subpoena requests was titled “in the matter of certain crypto asset offering intermediaries.”

The above-mentioned legal action adds a layer to the complexity around the latest Ethereum movements. Furthermore, the SEC is investigating possible violating of securities law by such venture capitalists. Hence, it could raise concerns around the latest Ethereum movements as well.

Ether ICO Whale & Plus Token Saga

Adding to the ETH price woes, a prominent Ethereum whale continued aggressive selling spree. This whale originally received 1 million ETH during Ether ICO at a mere $0.31 per token. They have been offloading substantial amounts of Ether in recent weeks and now hold 951,500 tokens.

On August 12, the whale dumped another 5,000 ETH, valued at approximately $13.2 million, on the OKX crypto exchange. This brings the whale’s total sales over the past month to a staggering 48,500 ETH, worth around $154 million.

ETH price also faced uncertainty as a recent investigation by EmberCN has uncovered significant Ethereum transfers linked to the now-defunct Bidesk exchange. Between June and September 2021, a total of 789,534 ETH was transferred to Bidesk through various wallets.

Following Bidesk’s bankruptcy later that year, these assets were redirected to the Huobi exchange. Of particular note, 268,843 ETH were funneled into Bidesk through four specific deposit addresses. However, some of these assets never reaching Bidesk and others being withdrawn but not yet transferred to Huobi.

The investigation also revealed that 12 addresses connected to the Plus Token ponzi scheme received a significant portion of these Ethereum assets. Last week, $63.1 million worth of Ethereum seized in Plus Token was transferred, coinciding with the whale’s another 5,000 ETH dump.

EmberCN speculated that the Chinese government may have sold a substantial portion of the 789,534 Ether in 2021. It suggests that the recent transfer may not significantly impact the ETH price. However, the combination of this transfer, the ongoing whale dumps, and the declining interest in Ether ETFs has led to increased caution among investors.

Another ETH Price Crash Looming?

From a technical analysis perspective, ETH price is currently hovering around $2,656 after facing rejection at the $2,700 resistance level. This coincides with the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level. This rejection, combined with the looming death cross indicated by the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) crossing below the 200-day EMA, suggests potential bearishness ahead.

A death cross is typically seen as a strong sell signal, and traders may use this as an opportunity to exit their positions or tighten stop-loss orders. Another indicator, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD), is currently stuck in negative territory, flashing a sell signal.

This negative MACD reading further encourages traders to consider short positions in Ether. In particular, if the price slides below the short-term support at $2,500 is bearish, as reported by Coingape earlier. A breach of this support could exacerbate the impact of the death cross, potentially triggering a sell-off toward the $2,000 level.

Last week, Ethereum tested support at $2,100, indicating that a further decline below $2,000 cannot be ruled out. However, the In/Out of the Money Around Price (IOMAP) model suggests that while Ethereum price is not strongly supported above $2,500, there is a clear rebound path toward $3,000.

If Ethereum can breach the immediate $2,700 hurdle, it could ignite rapid upward price movement. This could potentially leading to a new bullish phase that could see the price advance toward $4,000. Meanwhile, CrediBULL Crypto, a crypto analysts on X, predicted a downtrend for Ether before it breaks above $3,000 and eventually $3,600.

Concurrently, the Ethereum (ETH) price has been bullish in the last 24 hours with the price swaying between an intra-day high and low of $2,749.14 and $2,613.80, respectively. At press time, ETH price was trading at $2,690, a 2.11% surge from the support level. During the rally, ETH’s market capitalization surged by 2% to $324,707,987,183 while the 24-hour trading volume fell by 18% to $17,591,744,987.