On August 25, 2025, a historic operation occurred in the crypto market: an 'ancient whale' traceable to the early days of Bitcoin sold nearly 20,000 BTC (about $2.22 billion), completely swapping for over 450,000 ETH, of which about $1.13 billion in ETH has been staked in the Ethereum PoS network. This operation did not lead to an outflow of funds from the crypto ecosystem, but rather shifted from 'store of value' to 'value generation', directly driving the ETH/BTC exchange rate to continue rising since May of this year.
Core of the position shift: Strategic turn in asset attributes
This position shift is essentially a transfer from 'non-productive assets' to 'productive assets': Bitcoin is a passive store of value tool with no intrinsic cash flow; ETH can generate continuous yields through staking, making it a 'productive asset'. The rapid staking of ETH by whales reveals their shift from 'earning capital gains' to 'earning stable cash flow' in their wealth perspective.
This also confirms Willy Woo's theory of 'Bitcoin's growing pains': Whales who built positions at low prices around 2011 selling BTC create upward resistance; these funds have not exited the market but have flowed into Ethereum, alleviating Bitcoin's selling pressure while injecting stock funds into Ethereum (staking also reduces ETH circulation), becoming the direct reason for the strengthening of ETH/BTC.
Bifurcation of dual currencies: Bitcoin's 'growing pains' and Ethereum's 'flywheel'
Bitcoin: The tenfold gains of early participants have become a 'historical burden', and each rise easily triggers cashing out, requiring continuous digestion of selling pressure, which is a 'growing pain', with price performance relatively 'heavy'.
Ethereum: Forming an 'ecological flywheel' through three major engines! Staking 'supply black hole': As the queue for staking ETH surges, institutions flood in, locking in circulation; stablecoin settlement network: USDC's monthly transfer volume is nearly $750 billion, with gas fees consumption and destruction supporting its value; 'ultrasound money' deflation: Under staking locking + gas destruction, the net issuance during busy network times is negative, and scarcity is positively correlated with ecological prosperity.
Macro resonance: Arthur Hayes' 'stablecoin prophecy'
Former BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted: In the coming years, $10-13 trillion of Eurodollars will flow back to the blockchain stablecoin ecosystem. Ethereum is the core platform that will accommodate this liquidity — its DeFi ecosystem and Layer 2 networks can meet yield and trading demands. The actions of giant whales shifting their positions and staking ETH are precisely laying the groundwork for this trend, not only pursuing staking yields but also targeting the DeFi opportunities ignited by stablecoin liquidity.
Conclusion: Paradigm shift in crypto value assessment
The actions of giant whales shifting their positions indicate a turn in the value logic of the crypto market: from purely relying on 'store of value' (like Bitcoin) to focusing on 'real yield, economic activity bearing, network value capture' of 'productive assets' (like Ethereum).
Bitcoin's status as 'digital gold' remains solid, but in terms of growth elasticity and capital efficiency, Ethereum has become the market focus. The ETH/BTC exchange rate is no longer a simple trading pair, but an evolutionary mirror of crypto from 1.0 to 2.0 — this 'great rotation' may just be beginning.
