As overall economic risks continue to rise, the cryptocurrency market has been continuously declining, with Bitcoin briefly falling below $82,000 and Ethereum dropping below $1,800. During this market downturn, some early whales seem to be preparing to sell their Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings.

Early Whales May Sell Large Amounts of Bitcoin and Ethereum

CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn pointed out that dormant whales are awakening, with over 8,000 Bitcoins that have been dormant for 5 to 7 years being transferred in a single Block on the 28th, the largest scale observed recently. At current prices, these long-dormant Bitcoins are worth over $674 million.

Generally, large Bitcoin transfers from long-term dormant states are interpreted as potential sell-offs that could lead to significant price corrections, though other non-bearish motivations exist, such as institutional investor wallet reorganization.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, a dormant pre-mined address containing 2,000 ETH (valued at $3,687,993) suddenly became active after 9.7 years.

Lookonchain noted that the address belongs to an Ethereum ICO participant who, after 9.7 years of silence, suddenly transferred 1 ETH. This participant received 2,000 ETH during the Ethereum Genesis Block generation, at a cost of $620, now worth $3.7 million, with ETH's ICO price around $0.31 at the time.

Will Ethereum Drop to $1,000?

Ethereum has been performing poorly, currently hovering around $1,800, which is nearly halved from its December high of $4,000. Analysts previously suggested that the Ethereum Pectra upgrade scheduled for late April might provide a rebound opportunity if it improves fees and user experience, though ETH outperforming the Altcoin market remains unlikely.

Regarding whether Ethereum might repeat its 2020 drop to $1,000, Bloomberg commodity strategist Mike McGlone analyzed on the 28th, noting that the market should focus on ETH's trend. He believes ETH is clearly correlated with other risk assets, and if S&P 500 stocks continue to weaken, ETH might further decline.

McGlone suggests that ETH returning to the $2,000 level could indicate the direction for risk assets. However, if Bitcoin fails to restore stable price growth, it might exacerbate Altcoin losses, especially with top Altcoins continuing to weaken, potentially causing ETH to fall back to $1,000 later this year.