As the price of Ethereum ($ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, surged to touch the $1,400 mark amid a wider cryptocurrency market rally, on-chain data has shown that shark addresses have been “aggressively” accumulating the cryptocurrency.
Data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment shows that wallets with between 100 and 10,000 $ETH, equivalent to $138,000 to $13.8 million at the time of writing, have been accumulating the cryptocurrency since early November, to the point around 3,000 new shark addresses were created.
Per the firm, a total of 48,556 shark addresses now exist, marking the highest level recorded since February 2021. Shark addresses, it’s worth noting, are associated with large holders, with the largest cohort being known as the whale cohort.
As CryptoGlobe reported, the cryptocurrency community is divided on whether $ETH is a better long-term bet than $BTC. While BTC is primarily used as a store of value and a means of exchange, ETH has the added use case of powering smart contracts on the Ethereum platform, which makes it an attractive investment for those who believe in the potential of decentralized applications and the wider adoption of blockchain technology.
ETH also has a strong developer community and support, which can provide a level of stability and security for investors. However, BTC also has a strong developer community and has proven to be a resilient and secure cryptocurrency over the years. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, Ethereum’s upward performance vs. Bitcoin has been unshaken by the 2022 deflation in most risk assets and may be gaining underpinnings
Meanwhile, as reported, the prices of liquid staking tokens Lido Finance ($LDO) and Rocket Pool ($RPL) have been rallying over the past few weeks as withdrawals of Ethereum staked on the network move closer to being a reality.
Ever since the Beacon Chain was launched, Ethereum token holders have been able to stake their $ETH on the network in return for fees, awarded to them for validating transactions on the network. The funds, however, aren’t yet withdrawable. Ethereum’s mainnet merged with the Beacon Chain late last year.
To become a validator on Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake network, users have to stake 32 ETH, at the time of writing worth around $42,400.
Liquid staking solutions such as Lido Finance and Rocket Pool allow users to stake significantly less and maintain their liquidity, through the issuance of tokens representing the staked funds. Lido, for example, issues stETH for every staked ETH.
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