A major cryptocurrency trader, known as a whale, is facing big losses after making a huge bet against Ethereum (ETH-USD). The trader opened a short position worth over $100 million right before the token’s price started to climb back up. This aggressive market move happened even as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin promised that his team would cut down on ETH token sales. Speaking on the future of his organization, Buterin noted that it is prioritizing long-term survival, stating, “Yes, this means we sell less ETH.”
Big Market Players Bet Against Recent ETH Price Bounces
One large trading account used heavy leverage to bet that Ethereum’s price would drop below $2,094. The trade has quickly run into trouble because the token bounced back toward $2,115 following a brief weekend drop. If the price climbs just a bit higher to $2,150, the platform will automatically close the trade.
This forced closure could wipe out the entire position and cause over $1 million in quick losses. This highly risky trade shows that some wealthy individuals still expect ETH to fall. This negative outlook persists even though global political tensions are easing and the asset is trying to build a new price floor.
ETH Foundation Changes Spending Plans to Ensure Long-Term Focus
Vitalik Buterin came out to defend his group after several main researchers left the organization. He explained that his team is focusing tightly on a few critical goals like privacy and network security. The group has faced a lot of criticism from community members who say that regular ETH token sales hurt the price during weak market cycles.
Data shows that the organization already sold roughly 20,000 ETH tokens this year to raise $45 million. However, the group still holds more than 170,000 ETH tokens in its main reserves. The new promise to slow down these sales is meant to calm fears about unnecessary market pressure.
Institutional Fund Managers Cut Down on ETH Exposure
Big finance companies have been losing faith in Ethereum throughout the year. Several large investment groups chose to pull their money out after the asset showed weak performance compared to Bitcoin (BTC-USD). For example, Goldman Sachs ($GS) cut its holdings in local exchange-traded funds by roughly 70%.
At the same time, specialized crypto investment funds have seen more than $945 million pull out of Ethereum products since the start of the year. Even some well-known, long-time backers have admitted to selling off their personal Ethereum holdings. Despite this trend, some market analysts say the underlying Ethereum ecosystem remains strong because it still handles most of the real activity and stablecoins in crypto.
At the time of writing, Ethereum’s price is sitting at $2,125.28.
