Dormant Ethereum Whales Shift $400M to Bitfinex Before ETH’s 20% Drop

Two long-inactive Ethereum whales resurfaced after six years, moving an eye-popping 135,548 ETH valued at just under $400 million to Bitfinex hours before the crypto market came crashing down.

The two wallets have been dormant since January 2019 and became active within hours of each other.

Strategy or Coincidence?

According to on-chain data shared by Spot on Chain, the two wallets’ holdings were originally worth approximately $20.8 million, but if the owners sold their stash at today’s price, they would secure a staggering 1,817% profit, netting just over $378 million.

The first, identified as 0xfdfe…06def3, deposited 77,736 ETH, valued north of $193 million, into Bitfinex 11 hours before the market imploded. The second, 0x693b…98dee8, sent 57,813 ETH an hour later, with the transaction worth around $144.3 million.

Both wallets now hold insignificant amounts of crypto following the transfers. However, the big question is whether the movement of funds was strategic or merely coincidental timing because soon after, the crypto market suffered a major downturn, with the price of ETH falling to $2,250 and Bitcoin momentarily dropping below $92,000. Total liquidations have exceeded $2 billion, with around $1.58 billion in long positions wiped out in 24 hours.

Trump’s Trade Tariffs Shock Market

Market watchers have blamed the implosion on President Donald Trump’s introduction of steep tariff hikes on Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese imports.

On Saturday, President Trump imposed a 25% tax increase on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10% hike on the Chinese, sparking fears of an escalating trade war. The three nations have unsettled global markets further by imposing counter-tariffs on U.S. exports in retaliation for Trump’s move.

According to some, the uncertainty around international trade following the flurry of activities between the four countries likely triggered panic selling across the board. Former Binance China researcher Jinze has warned that these tariffs could be the biggest macroeconomic threat in 2025, impacting both traditional and crypto markets.

At the time of this writing, data from CoinGecko showed that ETH had declined 19.9% in the last 24 hours. Its weekly loss reached 22.4%, severely underperforming the broader crypto market, which is down 10.6%. Across 30 days, the drop is just below 30%, while over 12 months, there’s been an 8.8% increase in the token’s price.