Accumulation of Large ETH Holders in 2024-2025

Large Ethereum (ETH) holders have been actively accumulating ETH throughout late 2024 and into 2025, despite a decline in retail balances, according to data from Nansen.

Current Market Situation

Despite Ethereum’s price dropping over 44% this year and currently trading around $1,900, substantial investors are continuing to increase their holdings. Data from Nansen, shared with Crypto News, highlights this trend particularly among Ethereum whales.

Whale Holdings

Whales are defined as large holders possessing between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH. This group has increased their holdings by over 12% in early 2025, in stark contrast to smaller holders who have reduced their balances.

> “The 10k-100k segment saw over a 12% growth in 2025 alone on their total ETH balances whereas the 1k-10k segment saw a 3% increase in their holdings YTD.”
> — Nansen

Network Activity Concerns

At the same time, Ethereum’s network activity has reportedly slowed down, with median gas prices plummeting nearly 50 times since early 2024. Additionally, some activity appears to have shifted to other platforms like Solana (SOL) and various layer-2 networks.

Competitive Landscape

Ethereum is facing intensified competition, as noted by Nansen, who indicated that the network risks being viewed as a “jack of all trades but master of none” compared to BTC, SOL, and TIA.

Despite increased accumulation by certain whales, the overall trend remains uncertain. Nansen notes that there is “much to be desired across many of the on-chain metrics,” indicating severe underperformance during both market uptrends and downtrends.

For ETH to potentially reverse its long-term downtrend against BTC, “significant changes would need to occur,” according to analysts at Nansen. However, it remains unclear if any near-term catalysts could shift market sentiment.

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