The halving effect - Are Ethereum whales switching to Bitcoin?

• The number of ETH whales has reduced drastically in 2020 despite the currency’s surging prices and institutional adoption. 
• Glassnode’s data indicates that unique addresses holding over 10,000 ETH dropped to just 1,050 on May 14.
• This number is a new low since January 2019, indicating a year of outflows from Ethereum. 

Data from the analytical firm, Glassnode, suggests that Ethereum “whales” are reducing in number despite the cryptocurrency’s surging prices and institutional adoption. Recent Bitcoin halving saw BTC’s price move from sub-$5,000 in January 2020 to over $10,000. Many digital assets followed suit, with currencies like ETH and XRP posting over 50% gains. 

Nevertheless, Glassnode’s data indicates that Bitcoin is the “flavor” for 2020. The seven-day average of the number of unique addresses holding over 10,000 ETH fell to just 1,050 on May 14. This number is a new low since January 2019, indicating a year of outflows from Ethereum. 

In the same period, whale-linked Bitcoin addresses have increased significantly. The seven-day moving average of the number of addresses holding more than 10,000 Bitcoins rose to 111 at the end of April, which is the highest level since April 2019. 

According to a CoinDesk report, Connor Abendschein, a crypto researcher, said: 

Some ETH whales could have moved into BTC in anticipation of potential price appreciation in the top cryptocurrency due to the effects of the mining reward halving.

In March, Bitcoin’s price recovered from $3867 to $7000 in just five days. This could have been a reason for ETH whales to move to Bitcoin. Another possible reason could be the increased investor interest in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.