Ethereum’s Quiet Accumulation: Whales Stockpile Amidst Price Stagnation

As many traders shift focus to the holiday season, a notable divergence is quietly forming within the Ethereum ecosystem. While price action appears lethargic, a significant accumulation campaign by large-scale investors and institutions is underway, reaching levels seldom seen. This raises a critical question: how long can this disconnect between subdued price performance and aggressive buying persist?

Supply Squeeze: Exchange Reserves Dwindle

The substantial demand from institutional entities coincides with a pronounced decline in readily available supply on cryptocurrency exchanges, hinting at a potential supply crunch in the making.

• The total ETH balance held on centralized exchanges has fallen to approximately 16.4 million ETH. This represents a net withdrawal of 4.4 million ETH from trading platforms over the course of the year.
• The trend is particularly evident on Binance, where the ratio of ETH held on the exchange has dropped to 0.032—its lowest point since September 2024.

A reduction in exchange-held ETH signifies shrinking immediate liquidity. With major buyers persistently accumulating, a scenario of rising demand meeting this constrained and diminishing supply could exert more substantial upward price pressure in the medium term than current weak ETF flows might suggest.

Institutional Buying Hits Record Pace

Contrasting the muted technical picture is a clear shift in the holdings of major addresses. On-chain analytics reveal that wallets holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH have expanded their collective balance to over 21 million ETH—a record high for this cohort.

Two entities were especially active in the last 24-hour period:

• Trend Research (an affiliate of LD Capital)

  • Purchase on December 24: 46,379 ETH
  • Total holdings now: roughly 580,000 ETH
  • Founder Jack Yi has stated plans to invest an additional $1 billion into Ethereum.

• BitMine Immersion Technologies

  • Purchase on December 23: 67,886 ETH (worth approximately $201 million)
  • Current holdings: over 4 million ETH
  • This equates to about 3.37% of the circulating supply.
  • The company’s stated goal is to control up to 5% of the network’s total supply.

These movements point toward long-term strategic positioning, characterized by treasury allocations and sizable, bundled acquisitions. However, the market is not witnessing uniform buying. Some prominent investors are taking profits or rotating capital. For instance, Arthur Hayes sold 1,871 ETH (valued at $5.53 million) last week, reallocating funds into selected DeFi tokens such as ENA, PENDLE, and ETHFI. This indicates that active rotation between different crypto sectors continues alongside the broader accumulation trend.

Price Action and ETF Flows Show Weaker Momentum

Ethereum is currently oscillating just below the $3,000 threshold, trading at around $2,944—noticeably lower than previous highs. The price remains roughly 37% below its all-time peak from October 2025, underscoring a sustained corrective phase.

Technical indicators point to fading momentum. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits at 42, in a neutral-to-weak zone, while the price trades about 5% below its 50-day moving average. Concurrently, capital outflows from spot ETH ETFs are weighing on sentiment. On December 23 alone, a net $95.53 million exited these funds, reducing the cumulative net inflows to approximately $12.09 billion.

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Ethereum?

BlackRock’s activity is in particular focus. Its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) experienced outflows of around $25 million. Furthermore, on December 24, BlackRock transferred ETH worth $29 million to Coinbase Prime—a move often associated with liquidity management or custody adjustments.

Collectively, the technical landscape paints a picture of softer momentum, ETF outflows, and a market struggling to reclaim key psychological levels like $3,000 on a sustained basis.

Network Fundamentals Remain Robust

Despite price volatility, operational activity on the Ethereum network continues at a high level. On December 23, the Layer-1 blockchain processed 1.913 million transactions in a single day, setting a 2025 record. This capacity was facilitated by prior network upgrades like Pectra and Fusaka.

Ethereum maintains its dominant position within the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector:

• Share of global locked DeFi liquidity (TVL): 68.2%
• Estimated DeFi TVL on Ethereum: $69 billion
• Stablecoin volume on the network: over $191 billion

This reinforces Ethereum’s role as the core settlement layer for the crypto economy. The ecosystem of Layer-2 scaling solutions is also expanding, with Arbitrum surpassing $20 billion in “Total Value Secured” in 2025, bolstering the network’s scaling strategy.

Protocol Development: A Focus on Security

At the protocol level, the Ethereum community is progressing with its next phase of development. EIP-7864 is gaining prominence—a proposal supported by co-founder Vitalik Buterin to increase the maximum smart contract size. Buterin has emphasized that existing limits serve as crucial protection against Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. However, EIP-7864 aims to provide a controlled method for relaxing these constraints, enabling more complex applications without compromising network security.

The “Glamsterdam” upgrade wave is slated for late 2025. Its centerpiece is EIP-7732, which proposes “Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation” (ePBS). This would embed the separation of block proposal and block construction directly into the protocol, aiming to mitigate MEV risks and enhance decentralization.

Additionally, on December 18, the Ethereum Foundation announced a strategic pivot in zkEVM development: security is now the short-term priority over speed. Clear security milestones have been established for 2026 before new performance enhancements become the primary focus.

Outlook: A Clash of Narratives

In summary, Ethereum currently presents a clash of two narratives: one of weaker technicals and ETF outflows versus another of record accumulation by large holders, shrinking exchange supply, robust on-chain fundamentals, and a clear, security-focused upgrade roadmap featuring Glamsterdam and EIP-7864. The decisive factor for the next market phase will likely be whether the combined forces of tightening supply and institutional demand outweigh the current tepid ETF interest and near-term technical weakness.