The Ethereum Foundation found itself in the spotlight again on November 12, after selling 100 ETH, a move equivalent to roughly $340,000. This stirred up controversy among Ethereum investors, despite the fact that a smart money trader absorbed this sell pressure in a single stroke with a $34 million purchase.
This smart money trader acquired 10,364 ETH through a series of transactions against Tether’s USDT, according to data from Lookonchain. These purchases were made amidst an aggressive retracement of more than 3% in Ethereum (ETH) this morning, a trend mirrored by the entirety of the cryptocurrency market.
Lookonchain, which has been tracking this profitable whale through six distinct wallet addresses, reports that the trader has executed 15 trades since August 12. An impressive track record shows that the smart money made a profit on 14 out of the 15 trades, accumulating a total of $4.95 million with a win rate of 93%.
Parallel to this trading activity, Ethereum is facing a corrective movement, following the unveiling of Justin Drake’s “most ambitious initiative to date”. The announcement, made on November 11 on X, stirred up a mix of reactions in the crypto community.
Drake stated, “For one year I have been thinking about what a from-scratch redesign of the Ethereum consensus layer could look like. The goal is to suggest a credible strategy to ship what is an extremely ambitious and exciting beacon chain roadmap, all on a reasonable timeframe.”
Ethereum investors expressed optimism at the revelation. However, not everyone shared this sentiment. Competitors called it “too late”, pointing out that other blockchains already offer better results than the proposed changes. DavyCrypto, for instance, highlighted how MultiversX plans to launch 0.6s in-slot finality in the first half of 2025, considerably outperforming Drake’s proposal for Ethereum 3.0.
As the situation evolves, the proposed improvements to Ethereum could potentially generate increased demand within its ecosystem. This could, in turn, positively impact ETH’s price. The purchase by the smart money trader is a clear demonstration of how highly-capitalized investors perceive these market dynamics, and how their actions can influence the course of the market.
As we continue to monitor the situation, it’s clear that the future of Ethereum relies on the actions and perceptions of both small and large-scale investors, as well as the successful implementation of proposed enhancements. Whether these will be enough to maintain Ethereum’s position in the ever-evolving landscape of blockchain technology remains to be seen.
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