Drastic Change In Ethereum Whale Holdings After Merge: What It Means?

The Ethereum Merge has not just brought about a change in the blockchain network architecture but also trading behavior. The much anticipated Merge event sparked a debate on reliability of proof of stake in comparison with proof of work consensus. But the price drop following The Merge was contrary to the market expectations in a largely negative environment. The change in Ethereum whale holdings activity throws a clear picture of how the ecosystem reacted to the event.

Ethereum Whale Holdings Drop

In parallel with the ETH price drop since The Merge completion, large holders of the cryptocurrency reduced their holdings. According to the findings of market intelligence platform Santiment, there was a clear dip in ETH holdings of whales. ETH addresses holding 1k to 10k $ETH saw a drop of 2.24% in their cumulative holdings while those with 100 to 1k holdings have dropped 1.41%.

“The Ethereum Merge on September 15 has brought on a shift in large address behavior. In the past 6 days since the shift to proof of stake, addresses holding 1k to 10k $ETH have dropped 2.24% of their cumulative holdings. Addresses with 100 to 1k holdings have dropped 1.41%.”

The price of ETH dropped by as much as 15% in the last seven days. As of writing, ETH price stands at $1,349.47, down 0.86% in the last 24 hours, according to price tracking platform CoinMarketCap. From close to 20% market share among major cryptocurrencies, Ethereum’s dominance is now down to 17.79%. Meanwhile, the crypto market awaits yet another major technical upgrade on Cardano network on Thursday.

Cardano Vasil Hard Fork To Repeat Scenario?

The Vasil hard fork upgrade improves the functionality, performance, scalability, and interoperability of the Cardano network. The network is ready for the upgrade with 75% of mainnet blocks created, 25 crypto exchanges upgraded, and top 10 DApps upgraded. With the Fed interest rate hike decision anticipated, the ADA price could fall following the hard fork. But there could be a recovery followed by a price rise, as per analyst predictions.