- Despite recent whale activity and increased interest in DeFi, altcoins such as Ethereum, Uniswap, and Aave have suffered price declines.
- But analysts expect the market could recover as the whales continue to accumulate.
Crypto whales have increased their positions in several decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, including Ethereum (ETH) and Uniswap (UNI). A series of large transactions observed over the weekend reflect large accumulations by unidentified whale wallets. According to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, this surge confirms the growing interest in DeFi assets.
Whales scoop up Ethereum, Uniswap and other cryptocurrencies
According to Lookonchain data, an anonymous whale withdrew 299,133 UNI (equivalent to approximately $2.39 million) from cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io over the weekend. This major move shows growing confidence in UNI, the governance token of decentralized exchange Uniswap. Currently, UNI ranks 22nd in terms of market capitalization. Also, according to the CNF report, this whale action follows last week's launch of Layer-2 Unichain by Uniswap.
This whale is also active in other DeFi tokens. Between August 13th and September 12th, the same wallet withdrew 19,373 Aave (AAVE) from Binance, which equates to purchases worth $2.95 million. Additionally, Whale withdrew $805,000 worth of trades, 596 Maker (MKR), from Binance during the same period.
In another episode, a whale wallet associated with Longling Capital recently purchased 5,000 ETH (worth $12.34 million) over the weekend. This brings the wallet's total holdings to 68,064 ETH, currently worth more than $168 million. Furthermore, this shows that the bullish stance on Ethereum’s price trend continues. Meanwhile, Ethereum ICO whales are releasing their holdings and transferring capital to other altcoins, CNF reported.
A third whale is also making big moves in Aave, acquiring 31,173 AAVE tokens worth $4.8 million on Sunday. The whale then borrowed funds using Aave's platform and exchanged the borrowed 2.7 million GHO stablecoins for USDC. According to a report by CNF, the Aave platform has recently been in high demand after Donald Trump's DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, proposed Aave integration to realize its governance strategy.
This USDC stash was transferred to Coinbase to purchase more Aave tokens. It focuses on a unique strategy of leveraging DeFi protocols to further accumulate assets.
Altcoins continue to struggle
Recent whale activity coincided with the positive price movements of the altcoins mentioned above. However, after that, the price movement slowed down and the momentum slowed. Ethereum, the largest altcoin by market capitalization, is trading at $2,608.72 at the time of writing, reflecting a 0.10% decline over the past 24 hours.
Similarly, Uniswap's UNI token has also seen a significant decline. It is currently trading at $7.77, reflecting a 2.39% decline over the past day. Aave, which ranks 44th in terms of market valuation, is also riding the wave of this downturn. At the time of writing, AAVE price is $156.03, down 2.93% in the same period.
Nevertheless, continued accumulation of whales has analysts expecting a recovery. Moreover, despite market fluctuations, Ethereum's price has remained resilient. This could boost the cryptocurrency community's morale towards the DeFi ecosystem despite the recent downturn.
