A major Bitcoin whale has shifted focus toward Ethereum, sparking new debate in the crypto market. According to Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, this longtime holder created a new wallet and deposited $20 million in USDC to take a leveraged Ethereum position.
The OG Bitcoin whale now controls long positions totaling 78,265 ETH, worth around $334 million, spread across five wallets.
This Bitcoin OG just created a new wallet and deposited 20M $USDC to go long on $ETH with 6x leverage.
He now holds $ETH long positions totaling 78,265 $ETH($334M) across 5 wallets.https://t.co/gle55iYVTchttps://t.co/0cy5OG65Js pic.twitter.com/TObynZWORL
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 21, 2025
Previously, the whale sold 670.1 BTC, valued at $76 million, and used the proceeds to open 68,130 ETH longs. Lookonchain revealed that this address belongs to a Bitcoin OG who received 14,837 BTC seven years ago from HTX and Binance. Those coins, worth $107.5 million at the time, now stand at nearly $1.7 billion.
Rotating From Bitcoin to Ethereum
Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3, provided a sharp take on the whale’s move. Mow warned, “Most ETH holders have a lot of BTC (ICO/insiders) and they are rotating that BTC into ETH to pump it on new narratives (Ethereum Treasury co’s). Once they’ve gotten it high enough, they’ll dump their ETH, creating new generational bagholders, and then rotate the gains back into BTC. No one wants ETH in the long run. Plan accordingly.”
Hence, the whale’s strategy echoes long-standing cycles of capital rotation between Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, the scale of the current move signals renewed confidence in ETH during a period of institutional attention.
Institutions Show Interest in Ethereum
Aside from whale speculations, the institutional bodies are also entering the Ethereum market. BitMine Immersion Technologies increased its treasury with the addition of 52,475 Ether. The purchase indicates a growing trend for companies to diversify their crypto holdings into cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.
Further, according to the CryptoQuant data, the ratio of whale activity to Bitcoin exchange volume is 0.47, confirming that big holders represent only a small part of the exchange volume. This means that with Bitcoin still trading above $112,000, there are other factors supporting the market besides whale activity.
Whale investments in ETH might allow for short-term maneuvers, but at the same time, they are subject to the possibility of market manipulation.
Also Read: Ethereum Treasuries Cross 4.1 Million ETH Across 69 Firms