Institutions Accumulate Ethereum Below $2,000 as Staking Tops 50%

Ethereum has fallen for six straight months, its longest losing streak since 2018, yet some institutional investors are increasing positions while the asset trades below $2,000. On February 18, Tom Lee’s Bitmine bought 35,000 ETH—20,000 ETH from BitGo and 15,000 ETH from FalconX—and a wallet linked to K3 Capital purchased 20,000 ETH from Binance.

On-chain metrics show long-term holders have stepped up accumulation during the downturn. CryptoQuant records the past six months as the most active period of inflows into ETH accumulation addresses, and CryptoRank data indicates increased accumulation by long-term investors.

"The whales and the largest banks are buying and building on ETH. These are the highest inflows into whale‑accumulation wallets we’ve seen. Meanwhile, retail has abandoned it and is calling for its failure. They’re tired and exhausted after watching the price chop inside this massive range for five years," crypto investor Seth commented.

ethereum, eth, staking, institutions, whales, bitmine, bitgo, falconx, k3 capital, binance