In a very bold move of confidence in Ethereum, Abraxas Capital Management has pulled out a whopping 138,511 ETH (approx $297 million) from different centralized exchanges in the last two days. In on-chain data, the aggressive accumulation was discovered and stressed in a series of tweets by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain.
This accumulation craze started on May 8 when, for the first time, Lookonchain announced that Abraxas Capital has withdrawn 49,644 ETH (approximately $92 million) from Binance and Kraken. Then institutions started to become very interested in Ethereum, even as the market was giving off early signs of increased momentum.
Ethereum Price Breakout Coincides with Institutional Buying
By afternoon on May 9, Abraxas Capital’s actions had become impressive. Lookonchain revised its analysis to indicate that the firm had withdrawn a pool of $116.3 million worth of Ethereum held in the firm’s wallet within 48 hours. This was concurrent with Ethereum’s breakout past the $2,300 mark, a more than 20% increase in value in 24 hours. This type of extreme price rally is usually a sign of a resurgence of investor interest, and here it appears the lead is being taken by institutions.
Market Watching for Institutional Signal
Later, on the evening of May 9, Lookonchain made a further announcement: Abraxas Capital had withdrawn a total of 138,511 ETH. The current group of transfers was sent from broader exchange wallets such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Aave, Spark, and OKX. Each transfer ranged from a small batch of 1 ETH to a single transaction of over 30k ETH, with the biggest being a grand total of over 72 million USD in a single transaction to Kraken alone.
The spread of withdrawals across several Abraxas-labelled wallets is not only a strategic accumulation play but potentially a more extended bullish position on the future price performance of Ethereum. Analysts and traders are now paying close attention to the fund’s movement for clues about institutional sentiment.
This unprecedented move toward self-custody during a period of major price momentum indicates Ethereum’s ongoing upside potential. This could be the start of a bigger wave of institutional ETH hoarding, or this could be a tactical move, and we will see.
Nevertheless, one thing is obvious, Abramax Capital’s aggressive ETH hoarding has received the attention of the crypto world and might be painting the new phase of the market cycle.
