Whales acquired $350 million in ETH during August’s dip, signaling growing institutional interest after Ethereum’s strong July rally.
BONK and Mantle (MNT) saw renewed accumulation, backed by platform growth and social hype.
Market signals show a strategic pivot by capital allocators from blue chips to high-growth altcoins.
Crypto whales appear to be pivoting toward Ethereum, meme coins, and L2 ecosystems as August begins with market uncertainty and uneven recovery across digital assets. Amid declining Bitcoin dominance and volatile macroeconomic indicators, large holders are selectively repositioning, chasing yield and potential upside in assets with strong network growth.
$350M ETH Accumulation After July Surge
According to on-chain data compiled by Lookonchain, a crypto whale accumulated over 101,131 ETH (~$350M) across multiple exchanges in early August. This follows a strong July performance for Ethereum, with a 50% price increase and $211B in trading volume. ETH has outpaced BTC in recent weeks, reinforcing sentiment that the leading smart contract platform is regaining traction after lagging earlier this year.
Ethereum currently trades around $3,505, supported by renewed institutional interest and narrative tailwinds from L2 activity and staking.
BONK Rebounds With $600K in Smart Money Inflows
Meanwhile, Solana-native meme token BONK saw a tactical resurgence. After correcting 43% from its highs, BONK attracted $600,000 in net inflows over the past week, per data from Ainvest. Whale wallets appear to be betting on continued viral traction of the BONK ecosystem, driven by the gamified engagement platform LetsBonk.Fun, which has gained traction for its meme-for-points model.
While BONK remains speculative, it mirrors the wider return of meme tokens as liquidity migrates from blue-chip underperformers.
Mantle Gains Whale Attention After 68% July Surge
Layer-2 project Mantle (MNT) is another rising target. MNT surged 68% in July, outpacing rivals like Arbitrum and Optimism in both new address creation and stablecoin market cap growth, which rose by 22.85%. According to DefiLlama, the Mantle ecosystem has surpassed $293 million in TVL, nearly doubling over 45 days.
Bybit co-founder Ben Zhou highlighted Mantle’s metrics in a recent X post:
Big things are happening to mantle, l tune in to my “H1 2025 Keynote” tomorrow, will disclose all the alpha. https://t.co/5Eh1ImKt10 https://t.co/AZDhWiBF9T
— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) August 5, 2025
Market Implications and Sentiment
This wave of accumulation reflects a tactical risk-on posture by deep-pocketed investors, as crypto enters a historically volatile month. With ETFs showing mixed flows and macro headwinds pressuring Bitcoin, whales appear to be reallocating into assets with higher upside potential despite higher volatility.
Crypto analyst Maria Lin of SignalBox Research noted, “This isn’t blind speculation. It’s about asymmetric bets. With ETH regaining momentum and L2s like Mantle surging, whales are shifting from defensive to opportunistic.”
As August unfolds, market watchers will be eyeing whether this whale-led capital shift trickles down to broader retail adoption. The smart money appears to be rotating toward assets that combine strong narrative, user traction, and upside volatility—even amid shaky macro conditions.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, or financial advice. Readers should conduct their own research before making investment decisions. We use AI to help us research and enhance the text or visual aids, which are then edited by our team.
The post Crypto Whales Shift Strategy: $350M in Ethereum and Meme Coin Bets Signal Tactical Optimism Amid Volatility appeared first on Cryptopress.
