An inactive Ethereum whale resurfaced this week, moving more than $15 million worth of ETH in a single day and drawing fresh attention to large-holder activity on-chain. What happened - On Jan. 22 the address 0x761F2F withdrew roughly 5,099 ETH — about $15.14 million — from a Kraken wallet, according to blockchain analytics firm Onchain Lens. - Arkham Intelligence tracked the subsequent transfer of that ETH into Lido Finance, where it was converted into ~5,100 stETH (Lido’s liquid staking token). Why it matters - The wallet had been dormant for more than three months. Its last recorded activity involved multi-million dollar stablecoin trades (UETH, USDT, USDC) and token burns of HYPE. The sudden re-entry after a long pause naturally raises questions about motive. - Moving ETH into Lido can signal a longer-term staking intent, or be a step toward using stETH in DeFi (as collateral or liquidity). It also removes ETH from centralized exchange custody, which can affect available sell-side liquidity. Insider trading concerns — and context - Some observers have suggested the timing could reflect access to non-public information, but there is no concrete evidence of insider trading. No major Ethereum-specific news or price spike accompanied the transfer. - At the time of reporting, ETH was trading lower — down roughly 1.7% over 24 hours — while daily volume fell by about 34.9%, a sign of muted market participation. Other notable whale activity - Separately, crypto analyst Max Crypto flagged an anonymous trader opening a roughly $202 million long position in ETH using 15x leverage. That position carries a reported liquidation price of $2,495, highlighting the high risk/reward profile of large leveraged bets amid recent volatility. How traders are reading it - Some market participants see the on-chain move as strategic positioning (staking or DeFi deployment) or a sign of renewed confidence among long-term holders. Others view the leveraged long as an audacious and risky bet that could add to market turbulence if sentiment shifts. - Key metrics to watch in the near term: further whale flows (especially off-exchange moves), exchange ETH reserves, stETH issuance and liquidity, and derivatives open interest — any of which could foreshadow larger price moves. Sources: Onchain Lens, Arkham Intelligence, Max Crypto. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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