Dormant Ethereum Whales Move $400M to Bitfinex Before 20% Price Drop

Two Ethereum whales, inactive for over six years, abruptly transferred 135,548 ETH—valued at nearly $400 million—to Bitfinex just hours before a significant cryptocurrency market downturn. These wallets, which had remained dormant since January 2019, reactivated in close succession.

On-chain analysis provided by Spot on Chain revealed that the ETH holdings, initially valued at approximately $20.8 million, could now deliver a remarkable return of 1,817%, totaling over $378 million in value.

The wallet identified as 0xfdfe…06def3 moved 77,736 ETH, with a market valuation exceeding $193 million, to Bitfinex 11 hours prior to the market decline. Subsequently, wallet 0x693b…98dee8 transferred 57,813 ETH, worth around $144.3 million.

Post-transfer, both wallets retain minimal crypto assets. The critical question remains whether these transfers were strategic or coincidental, as the market experienced a substantial setback shortly thereafter. Ethereum's price dropped to $2,250, and Bitcoin briefly fell below $92,000. Overall liquidations surpassed $2 billion, with nearly $1.58 billion in long positions cleared in just 24 hours.

Analysts attribute the market collapse to steep tariff increases initiated by then-President Donald Trump on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. On Saturday, Trump announced a 25% tariff hike on Canadian and Mexican imports and a 10% increase on Chinese goods, heightening fears of a trade conflict. In response, these countries imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, exacerbating market uncertainties.

Some speculate that the geopolitical tensions and ensuing uncertainty in international trade may have led to widespread panic selling. Former Binance China researcher Jinze forecasted these tariffs could pose the greatest macroeconomic threat by 2025, affecting both traditional and cryptocurrency markets.

Currently, according to CoinGecko data, Ethereum has fallen by 19.9% over the past 24 hours, with weekly losses reaching 22.4%, underperforming the broader cryptocurrency market, which is down 10.6%. Over the past 30 days, Ethereum has declined nearly 30%, though it still shows an 8.8% increase over the past year.