From cointelegraph by Yashu Gola

Ethereum accumulation addresses witnessed a record surge in daily inflows on Feb. 7, suggesting growing confidence in the cryptocurrency’s future price trajectory despite its recent underperformance compared to the broader crypto market.

Ether accumulators absorb $883M ETH in a day

Data resource CryptoQuant showed Ethereum accumulation addresses receiving 330,705 Ether 

ETH$2,617worth $883 million—the highest ever in a day. As a result, the total ETH held by these long-term holders reached a record 19.24 million.

That marks a 20.55% jump so far in 2025 despite ETH price declining 20.75% in the same period.

Accumulation addresses are wallets that continuously receive ETH without making any outgoing transactions. They may belong to long-term holders, institutional investors, or entities strategically accumulating Ethereum rather than actively trading it.

Large spikes in inflows to these addresses often signal strong confidence in Ethereum’s long-term potential, with recent trends showing that such surges frequently precede price rallies.

For example, on Feb. 26, 2023, Ethereum accumulation addresses recorded a then-all-time high daily inflow of over 244,000 ETH. Nearly two months later, ETH’s price rose by almost 35%.

A similar price rally succeeded in July 2024’s inflow spike into the accumulation addresses.

Simultaneously, ETH inflows into US-based spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETF) have increased, reaching around the same levels as November 2024, when Donald Trump’s reelection as the US president boosted upside bias across the crypto market.

A separate onchain metric tracking Ether holdings across accumulating retail addresses further reinforces the accumulation trend.

Notably, whale addresses holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH have steadily increased their balances. Additionally, the total count of accumulating retail addresses has jumped in 2025 despite the price dip, noting that most of these entities are buying at multi-week low prices.

According to CryptoQuant analyst MAC_D, these large inflows into accumulation addresses “reflects expectations of DeFi regulatory de-risking as part of Trump’s pro-crypto policies following his election, and suggests that smart money is likely to accumulate aggressively regardless of price.”

Market analyst Coinvo treats as a clear signal that Ether is a “obvious buy,” aligning with Abra founder and CEO Bill Barhydt’s views of ETH reaching $16,000 during the Trump presidency.

Ethereum’s road to $4K will be difficult

Traders still show a relatively lower interest in Ether than its rivaling assets.

Ether’s multi-year slump against Bitcoin 

BTC$95,897is a prime example, with the ETH/BTC pair down by around 75% since 2021.

Additionally, Ethereum faces intensified competition from other layer-1 blockchains, notably Solana 

SOL$196.90.

Solana's rapid adoption and scalability have attracted decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) projects, sectors where Ethereum previously held dominance.

As a result, SOL/ETH has rallied by around 1,025% over two years after its low of 0.00670 ETH.

Moreover, the anticipated deflationary effect from Ethereum's transition to proof-of-stake (PoS) has not materialized as expected. The ETH supply growth rate hovers near zero, indicating that the Merge’s impact on reducing Ether's supply has stalled.

Related: Vitalik outlines strategy for scaling Ethereum and strengthening ETH

Nansen’s Aurelie Barthere opines that Ether will reach $4,000 and beyond if it adapts to rising competition from other layer-1s and leverages regulatory momentum.