Large Ethereum wallets have been shrinking for three months

Large Ethereum wallets have been shrinking for three months. Wallets holding more than 1,000 ETH together lost around 1.7 million coins between 20 May and 20 August, a decline of approximately 2.9% within that group. At the same time, the share of smaller holders is growing. At the time of writing, the price of Ethereum stands at $2.300, up 10.8% in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum is available at OKX and Bybit.

In brief:

• Wallets with more than 1,000 ETH lost over 1.7 million coins in three months.
• Small wallets holding 1 to 10 ETH gained market share instead, from 4.38% to 4.52% of the total supply.
• Most of the vanished coins cannot be traced back to smaller wallets and are presumably held in staking or contract addresses.

Small holders gain ground on large wallets

According to data from Santiment, the share of wallets holding 1 to 10 ETH rose from 4.38% to 4.52% of the total supply over the same period. That group posted gains on 65 of the 92 days during the three-month period, pointing to gradual but steady growth.

The shift suggests that ETH is ending up in larger hands more slowly than before. Whether this is structural or a temporary pattern cannot be determined on the basis of current data.

Where did the vanished coins go?

Of the 1.7 million coins that left large wallets, only around 300,000 ETH can be traced back to smaller wallets. The rest, the vast majority, presumably moved towards staking or smart contracts.

Santiment notes that the large wallet category also includes exchange wallets, bridge contracts and staking contracts, in addition to individual holders. The number of ETH on exchanges fell from approximately 7.07 million to 6.54 million coins during the measurement period. That is a decline of more than half a million coins that disappeared from exchanges, which is generally seen as a sign that holders are less inclined to sell.