He buys more than $155 million worth of ether in one day

As ether is about to surpass $3,000, one user purchased 54,000 ether for around $155 million.

A crypto whale has swallowed new ethers, as the asset approaches $3,000 this Tuesday, February 20.

Monday February 19, a user made two successive purchases, first 32,002 ethers for $90 million, then 22,719 ethers for $65.7 million. In total, he will have acquired 54,000 ethers at the price of 155 million dollars at the crypto price during purchases, reports the specialized company Spot On Chain.

A crypto whale is a specific term for investors holding a significant amount of crypto (e.g. more than 1,000 bitcoins or more than 10,000 ether), whose movements can impact the cryptocurrency market.

These purchases were made while ether is soaring, in the context of euphoria over the arrival of spot bitcoin ETFs. Over one month, ether gained 18%, including 10% over the past week. Ether having gained more than 3% since Monday, the value of this whale’s portfolio is now worth $161 million.

Spot ether ETF in sight

With ether poised to surpass $3,000 for the first time since April 2022, the crypto whale is likely anticipating an ether that outperforms bitcoin in 2024. Indeed, several analysts consider that ether will experience the same growth trajectory as bitcoin, particularly if the American stock market watchdog (the SEC) validates ether spot ETFs.

Around ten requests were sent to the American authority, notably from Fidelity, Blackrock and more recently Franklin Templeton. The SEC must rule on May 23 at the earliest, for the VanEck company ETF. If the American authority were to validate this ETF, there is a good chance that other files would be validated at the same time.

As a reminder, an ETF (or Exchange Traded Funds) is an index fund trading on a stock exchange which follows the evolution of a stock index (or one or more financial or physical assets, such as gold ) by replicating the rise or fall in the price of this index (or these assets). On January 10, the American stock market watchdog (the SEC) authorized 11 spot bitcoin ETFs, offered in particular by asset managers like Blackrock and Fidelity.