Ethereum whales move in mysterious ways. We unravel the reasons behind the latest three altcoins catching their interest.
Covered:
- Ethereum Whales
- Compound (COMP)
- Decentraland (MANA)
- SwissBorg (CHSB)
Ethereum Whales Never Short On Surprises
We’ve covered the movements of Ethereum whales several times over the course of this year, and the results have always been interesting. This time is no exception. In fact, it might be the most interesting of all.
In the past, we’ve seen Ethereum whales scoop up the likes of LINK, MATIC, and SHIB — the latter of which is almost a permanent fixture. Those ETH-based tokens aren’t that surprising considering they all have their utility or fervent communities justifying the interest. But this latest round of altcoins making noise on the Ethereum whale charts aren’t as obvious choices.
Compound (COMP)
First up, we’ve got Compound (ticker symbol: COMP). COMP is a DeFi governance token for the Compound protocol. Many of you might be familiar with it from watching those videos on Coinbase. Despite that familiarity, the token hasn’t faired well in the last year, as evidenced by COMP’s yearly…
Yeah, that’s not a good-looking chart. Despite that, Ethereum whales are stocking up on the Defi token.
JUST IN: $COMP @compoundfinance now on top 10 purchased tokens among 100 biggest #ETH whales in the last 24hrs 🐳
Check the top 100 whales here: https://t.co/N5qqsCAH8j
(and hodl $BBW to see data for the top 5000!)#COMP #whalestats #babywhale #BBW pic.twitter.com/pOkJ1kaAXc
— WhaleStats (free data on crypto whales) (@WhaleStats) August 7, 2022
Compound isn’t the only DeFi protocol to have suffered from the DeFi exodus over the course of the past year. However, there is reason for optimism for DeFi protocols like Compound. With the upcoming move to proof-of-stake for Ethereum, the ecosystem will open up to many more smaller investors willing to pay cheaper gas fees, as well as greater volume thanks to faster transactions.
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Decentraland (MANA)
Decentraland (ticker symbol: MANA) rode the metaverse wave to an all-time high of $5.85 in November of 2021. Since then it’s fallen off greatly. MANA is currently trading in the $1.06 USD range.
The falloff isn’t surprising. The metaverse hype has died off, and in some ways turned into a punchline. Not to mention, Decentraland’s user numbers still leave much to be desired, even compared to its rivals like The Sandbox.
However, according to Whale Stats, MANA is currently the most widely held token among the top 100 Ethereum whales. For whatever reason, despite having a small user base and dwindling metaverse hype, Whales are holding MANA. Why?
Perhaps the cheaper fees and quicker transactions could trickle down to play-to-earn gaming and metaverse? Makes sense. Beyond that, MANA is actually holding well if you zoom out.
If you look back to August 2020, MANA is up considerably from its 10 cent range. Even if you move up the goalpost to October 2021, just before it got its metaverse hype bump, MANA was trading in the 70 cent range. Even after all the prolonged dumping, MANA is holding above its pre-hype range.
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SwissBorg (CHSB)
By far the biggest surprise on this list is SwissBorg (ticker symbol: CHSB). CHSB is the governance and rewards token of the SwissBorg app. The app is part crypto wallet, part crypto aggregator. The Switzerland-based app gives you self-sovereignty over your crypto, as well as streamlining access to exchanges like Kraken and Binance. Beyond buying and holding, it also offers staking and governance of the app’s future.
CHSB is currently the most traded token by the top 100 Ethereum whales, and it’s also one of the most widely held by the top 2000 ETH wallets. Why?
CHSB hasn’t really faired all that well in the last year. It also doesn’t exactly provide a product that distinguishes itself much from the pack. However, the interest in the token might have something more to do with where they are based.
As we’ve covered in the past, Switzerland is fast becoming a crypto stronghold.
“For a country with a small population of ~8.5 million, this growth in crypto adoption and startups is proportionally incredible. Last year, the Swiss government created the legal framework for the blockchain technology and listing of security tokens on secondary markets. Also, “more than half of the Swiss banks apparently plan to offer digital assets services over the next few years.”
Nick Rush from “Switzerland is Creating the Silicon Valley of Crypto”
Not to mention, the Swiss city Lugano has made USDT, BTC, and its own city token LVGA legal tender. SwissBorg is certainly in a good position regulation-wise moving forward, compared to other APPs hocking similar products.
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