coindesk.com
A crypto whale transferred 12,000 $ETH to Binance on Wednesday, according to Lookonchain.
Ether rose 11% on Wednesday despite regulatory concerns.
The options market remains more bearish on ether than bitcoin.
An investor holding a large amount of ether ($ETH), a so-called whale, who began trading the Ethereum blockchain's native token in 2017 moved a large chunk of it to crypto exchange Binance on Wednesday, in a possible precursor to liquidating the holding.
Roughly 18 hours ago, the address x50b42514389F25E1f471C8F03f6f5954df0204b0 transferred 12,000 $ETH (worth $42.8 million at the time) to Binance, according to blockchain sleuth Lookonchain. That's about 0.01% of the total circulating supply of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The same address moved nearly 9,000 $ETH to Binance on Tuesday, withdrawing 30 million tether (USDT). Tether is the world's largest dollar-pegged cryptocurrency.
"A giant whale deposited 12K $ETH to Binance 1 hour ago and may sell it," Lookonchain posted on X during Wednesday's U.S. trading hours.
Moving coins into addresses tied to cryptocurrency exchanges often indicates an intention to sell or deploy coins as a margin in derivatives trading. Thus, a large inflow of coins frequently presages increased price volatility.
It's possible the whale was looking to sell the cryptocurrency on the rise. Ether rose 11% to $3,500 on Wednesday, reversing a Tuesday slide. At press time, it was trading at $3,535, according to CoinDesk data.
The rally occurred even after reports emerged that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to classify $ETH as a security, a move that would derail plans for listing spot ether exchange-traded funds in the country and subject $ETH and projects interacting with Ethereum to more stringent regulation.
Still, data from Deribit's options market shows traders are more bearish on ether than bitcoin (BTC). While ether's one-week put options trade at a 4% premium to its calls, bitcoin's puts trade at a 2% premium. A similar dynamic is observed in options expiring in one month, according to data tracked by Amberdata.
A put option gives the purchaser the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date. A put buyer is implicitly bearish on the market, looking to profit from or hedge against an impending price drop.