Wrapped Ethereum Just Logged a Five-Year Whale Record: Here’s Why It Matters for ETH

cryptopotato.com 7 h

DeFi

Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) recorded 113,000 whale transactions worth more than $100,000 over the past week. This figure is its highest level since May 2021, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment.

The surge indicates that significant capital is moving through Ethereum’s trading, lending, liquidity, and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure rather than remaining idle in wallets.

WETH Whale Activity

Santiment, in its latest post on X, revealed that the increase coincides with several signs of rising demand for Ethereum. These include accelerating inflows into US spot Ether ETFs, with BlackRock’s $ETH products absorbing a large share of recent inflows, as well as growing activity on Robinhood Chain, which uses $ETH for gas and has processed heavy decentralized exchange (DEX) volume since its July 1 launch.

The analytics firm also pointed to increasing corporate treasury participation, as it highlighted Bitmine’s holdings of around 5.8 million $ETH and backing from Bitmine, SharpLink, and Joe Lubin for Ethlabs to cater to the increasing institutional demand for Ethereum.

While they do not guarantee a price rally, these factors are worth paying attention to.

Next Key Levels

As for $ETH’s price, the world’s largest altcoin by market cap, climbed to $1,934 on Wednesday, rising by almost 9% on the week and 4.5% on the day. Earlier, crypto analyst Ali Martinez said Ethereum remains above the “must hold” level of $1,850; its next upside target would be $2,300.

MN Trading founder Michaël van de Poppe also believes that if the crypto asset holds the crucial support zone above $1,800, it should “trigger a continuation upwards.”

A similar projection was made by another analyst, Tony Research, who said $ETH could first climb above $2,000, with a move toward the $2,200 area possible if Bitcoin reaches $70,000. However, the rally is expected to be followed by seven to 10 days of distribution before Ethereum falls into a final bottom zone between $1,260 and $890, which the analyst described as a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) opportunity.

According to the forecast, that decline would pave the way for a new bull cycle, with Ethereum eventually targeting $7,000.