Despite the ongoing market downturn, Ethereum continues to record aggressive accumulation from institutions and whales. Fresh on-chain signals show deep-pocketed investors taking advantage of the recent downturn to expand their ETH exposure.
Whale Accumulation Surges as Lookonchain Tracks Massive ETH Purchases
On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain reported a notable spike in large-scale Ethereum acquisitions. Citing data from Arkham Intelligence, Lookonchain reported that Trend Research borrowed $70 million worth of USDT from the lending protocol Aave to purchase 24,555 ETH across multiple transactions. This brings the firm’s total ETH holdings to 651,310 ETH valued at approximately $1.92 billion, subsequently cementing Trend Research as one of the largest institutional ETH holders.
Lookonchain also reported activity from an OTC whale who acquired 20,000 ETH, worth $58.8 million, via Wintermute and FalconX. The accompanying data shows that the whale purchased 10,000 ETH worth $29.9 million via Wintermute, then followed up with another 10,000 ETH worth $29.4 million through FalconX just hours later.
According to Lookonchain, these large-scale buys demonstrate that institutions and whales continue to expand their ETH holdings despite failing market conditions, signaling deep confidence in Ethereum’s long-term trajectory.
Institutional Demand Climbs as Staking and Network Upgrades Strengthen Outlook
Institutional interest in Ethereum continues to strengthen, boosted by major protocol upgrades and rising staking activity. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently proposed integrating Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) into the core staking architecture to enhance validator resilience and reduce technical burdens on large operators.
Meanwhile, Tom Lee’s Bitmine, the largest corporate ETH holder, is aggressively expanding its staking operations. Bitmine has now staked 1.7 million ETH worth $5.56 billion, nearly half of its 4.16 million ETH stash valued at $12.99 billion.
The company is also developing its own proprietary staking infrastructure, MAVAN (Made in America Validator Network), and is working with multiple staking providers to bring the system live in Q1 2026. These developments highlight Ethereum’s growing institutional appeal as both a yield-generating and infrastructure-critical asset.
Ethereum Price Sluggish as Macroeconomic Tensions Pressure Market
Despite heavy accumulation, Ethereum continues to trade below $3,000 and remains sluggish amid global macro uncertainty weighing on risk assets. Geopolitical tensions between the US and EU continue to rattle markets. At the same time, the Bank of Japan’s hint at further rate hikes, which signals an end to its long-standing loose monetary policy, has added further pressure.
The impact has been severe: CoinGlass data shows over $289 million in ETH long positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours. Additionally, spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded substantial outflows, with $229.95 million exiting as of January 20, 2025, according to SoSoValue.
Crypto analyst Ted Pillows warned in an X post that bulls must push Ethereum back to the $3,000 level to prevent a deeper slide.
However, in the long term, Bitmine chairman Tom Lee remains firmly bullish, predicting that ETH could surge past $5,000 once market conditions stabilize and institutional participation deepens. Further, Matrixport recently identified a monster triangle pattern on the ETH price chart that could push the token to $10,000.
Evans Kelvin
The CoinRemark Team
