Whale 'pension-usdt.eth' Expands ETH Long Accumulation to $156M, Leveraging Aave for USDT Borrowing
The whale shifts from losing BTC longs to acquiring more ETH via Wintermute OTC, now holding $127M worth of ETH, reflecting ongoing high-value crypto accumulation.
The statement is assessed as highly likely to be true based on strong, consistent, and corroborating evidence from multiple independent sources. Several highly relevant news outlets (PANews, Phemex, Bitget, and MEXC) directly and explicitly confirm the core elements of the claim: a whale, a loan of approximately $85 million, the use of the Aave platform, and the subsequent purchase or accumulation of Ethereum. These sources are consistent in the key details, strengthening the validity of the report. The existence of primary on-chain analytics firms like Arkham and Lookonchain, which specialize in tracking such activities, makes it highly probable that these news reports are based on verifiable, publicly available blockchain data. There is no conflicting evidence among the provided sources; the less relevant sources simply discuss different topics and do not contradict the claim. The convergence of information across multiple platforms provides a high degree of confidence in the statement's accuracy.
On January 8, 2025, an Ethereum whale who previously realized $96.67 million in profit from ETH purchases acquired 10,000 ETH worth $31.7 million USDC via Wintermute OTC. This followed the closure of BTC long positions with a $3.8 million loss. The whale now holds 40,000 ETH valued at $127 million, purchased at an average price of $3,241 per ETH. The acquisition adds to earlier strategic moves involving large BTC longs and substantial holdings of stETH and Aave-based leverage.
- stETH: Staked Ethereum, a liquid staking token representing ETH deposited in Ethereum 2.0 staking, allowing users to earn staking rewards while maintaining liquidity.
- Aave: A decentralized finance protocol allowing users to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies, using a system of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.
- Wintermute OTC: An over-the-counter trading service by Wintermute that facilitates large cryptocurrency transactions directly between parties without affecting public exchange prices.