Key Points:

• Whale wallets hold 57% of all Ether, a historic high.
• Wallets with 10-100,000 ETH hit a record low.
• Daily new Ethereum addresses reach an 8-month high.

Whale Wallets Dominate Ethereum Supply

Ethereum whale wallets now account for 57% of all Ether in circulation, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment. In a December 16 post, the platform reported that 104 wallets holding over 100,000 ETH each collectively hold $333 billion.

Meanwhile:

• Wallets holding 10-100,000 ETH are at a historic low of 33.5%.
• Wallets with less than 100 ETH now hold just 9.19%, a near four-year low.

“With the caveat that the #2 market cap is increasingly comprised of DeFi and staking wallets, it is still generally a bullish long-term signal when a coin’s most prominent key stakeholders continue accumulating,” Santiment stated.

“Especially when it’s a 9-year-old asset with whales holding their highest-ever portion of coins,” it added.

Ethereum Sees Wallet Activity Surge

Ethereum wallet activity has spiked, with daily new addresses averaging 130,200 in December — the highest in 8 months, according to Santiment.

The surge aligns with Ether’s price reclaiming the $4,000 mark on December 7 for the first time since March. Currently, Ether trades at $4,007, as per CoinMarketCap. However, it remains 17% below its all-time high of $4,891 from November 16, 2021.

Social Sentiment Shifts to Bitcoin and Altcoins

Santiment also reported growing discussions around Bitcoin, Vanachains (VANA), and Moca Networks (MOCA). Bitcoin’s new record high of $107,800 on December 6 has sparked bullish narratives across the market.