Ethereum (ETH), the second largest crypto asset printed a green index on Thursday after several days of minor pullback. ETH price jumped by around 5% over the last 24 hours as it regained the $2,280 vital level. However, On-chain data depicts that a dormant whale has awakened amid this fresh Ethereum price surge which might trouble the ongoing positive sentiments in the market.
5k Ethereum on the move
According to the data shared by Lookonchain, a long-dormant whale has emerged from a three-year hiatus. The whale, which last made a move in 2017, sent shockwaves through the crypto market by moving 5,000 Ethereum (approx worth $11.3 million) to the crypto exchange Coinbase.
The dormant whale’s activity tracked by Lookonchain has drawn much attention as such large transactions can make or break momentum in the crypto market.
It is important to note that the whale initially received the ETH from Bitfinex in 2017. The price of Ethereum was hovering around $60 at that time.
Ethereum is trading at an average price of $2,275, at the press time. Its 24 hour trading volume is up by down by 5% to stand at $11.5 billion. ETH price has recorded a surge of more than 90% on a year to date (YTD) basis. Its market cap stands at around $273 billion.
Dump coming in?
The on-chain tracker depicts that the dormant whale now holds 20,398 Ethereum (approx value $45.88 million). The sudden resurgence of this mega holder raises questions and speculations within the crypto market about the motives behind the move.
As per the Coinglass data, more than 48K traders got liquidated over the past 24 hours as the market made a jump of 4%. The total liquidations including both long and short bets stand at $126 million. However, the largest single liquidation order took place on Bybit of BTCUSD valued at $2.00M
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, delves into the advantages and challenges of integrating a native Zero-Knowledge Execution Environment (ZK-EVM) at Layer 1. Currently, Layer-2 EVM protocols, such as optimistic and ZK rollups, necessitate trusting external codebases, posing security risks.
In the post, Buterin explored the idea of incorporating a ZK-EVM directly into Ethereum. This will reduce reliance on external code and be aligned with Ethereum’s governance for upgrades. However, this will potentially streamline the ecosystem and fortify security. The post considers implementation versions, trade-offs, and the evolving role of light clients in Ethereum’s future.
