finbold.com
A crypto trader and the formerly largest Ethena (ENA) staker has capitulated with $13 million of mostly realized losses. As fear took over, the investor unstaked a $17 million position built with an initial investment of around $30 million.
Notably, the trader built his position from April 5 to April 10 with four 5 million ENA withdrawals from Binance. According to a Lookonchain report on X, the purchases resulted in a 23.24 million ENA position worth $30 million. The average price was $1.29 per token.
Later, the Ethereum (ETH) address ‘0x886b70db1A5Ec9DA60231D3A059b640dB7f116ed‘ staked the recently acquired ENA, becoming the token’s largest staker, interested in the yield.
However, the strategy backfired, with a consistent two-month price loss since the top when this crypto trader bought the tokens. As a result, he unstaked a then-worth $17.3 million position and sold 19.36 million at a loss. By Lookonchain‘s posting time, the capitulation was worth $14.1 million, with ENA at $0.71.
Ethena whales sell-off since April’s all-time high
It is worth noting that Ethena whales have been selling off their tokens since the all-time high reached in April.
Finbold gathered data from Santiment showing the whale activity of addresses holding between 10 million to 100 million Ethena tokens. Overall, these whales held 459 million ENA on April 8, dropping 33% to 305 million ENA on June 12.
Ethena raises concerns while backed by known crypto traders
Interestingly, at that time, Ethena got in the spotlight, backed by known crypto traders and investors such as Arthur Hayes. The increased attention raised concerns and similarities with Terra (LUNA), backing an algorithm stablecoin, as reported by Finbold in April.
In summary, Ethena is a protocol built on Ethereum that has a governance token, ENA. Ethena aims to be “the internet bond,” providing a synthetic dollar, USDe, and “internet native yield.”
Nevertheless, it is impossible to know whether Ethena will be a huge success or a drastic failure. Investors engaging with USDe must understand the risks and make conscious decisions moving forward.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.