Whales have ramped up their accumulation of Ethereum (ETH), even as smaller holders reduce their positions, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment. The platform reports that 104 whale wallets, each holding over 100,000 ETH, now control 57.35% of the circulating supply—the highest concentration ever recorded. This equates to $333.1 billion worth of ETH.

In contrast, wallets holding between 100 and 10,000 ETH now own the lowest percentage of the total supply in history, at just 33.4%. Similarly, wallets with less than 100 ETH are at their lowest share in four years.

Whale Activity Signals Long-Term Optimism

Santiment interprets the growing dominance of whale wallets as a bullish sign for Ethereum’s future. The platform noted, “It’s still generally a bullish long-term signal when a coin’s most prominent key stakeholders continue accumulating, especially when it’s a 9-year-old asset with whales holding their highest-ever portion of coins.”

The accumulation coincides with a surge in new activity on the Ethereum network. The daily average of new addresses recently surpassed 130,200, an 8-month high. This growing interest helped ETH climb back above the $4,000 mark on Dec. 7, a level it hadn’t reached since March. As of now, ETH trades at $4,014.07.

ETH Lags Behind Smaller Altcoins

While Ethereum’s price has regained strength, it has underperformed compared to other altcoins like Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP), which have seen more dramatic price surges. Analyst Benjamin Cowen, however, sees this as typical behavior for Ethereum.

In a Dec. 6 post, Cowen noted that ETH also lagged in the previous cycle, only reaching a new all-time high in January of the post-halving year. Based on this pattern, he predicted that ETH could see significant gains in 2025.

For now, the growing dominance of whale wallets points to long-term confidence in Ethereum, even as its short-term performance lags behind smaller competitors.