Ethereum ETH Price Bullish: Layer-2 TVL Hits $30 Billion, Whales Withdraw Over $64 Million From Exchanges

Ethereum is showing signs of strength and increasing investor confidence that could lead to significant price growth in the coming weeks. A number of key metrics point to growing adoption of Ethereum and layer-2 scaling solutions for DeFi, as well as a shift to long-term holdings by mainstream investors.

TLDR

Ethereum layer-2 DeFi TVL has risen over 9% to $29.42 billion in the past week, indicating the adoption of layer-2 scaling solutions. -More than 800,000 ETH worth, worth an estimated $2.4 billion, has been withdrawn from exchanges this year, boosting investor confidence as Ethereum whales withdraw $64.2 million worth of ETH from major exchanges. A retracement of the $3,000 level, and technical analysis suggests a significant breakout to $3,500 is likely.

The Ethereum Layer-2 ecosystem's total value locked (TVL) rose more than 9 percent last week to a record high of $29.42 billion. Arbitrum accounts for the largest share of total layer-2 TVL at 45%.

The rapid growth emphasizes accelerating the use of layer-2 platforms such as Arbitrum and Optimism to enhance the capabilities of decentralized applications. Ethereum has moved in part in anticipation of the upcoming Shanghai reform, which will have a significant gas fee reduction.

Meanwhile, the supply of Ether tokens held on the central exchange is a record low of only 11% of the total circulating supply.

This decrease reflects a trend among Ethereum investors to move their holdings to cold storage or wallets for long-term holding. More than 800,000 ETH worth 2.4 billion dollars has already been issued by the exchange this year.

Large investors are also seen playing on Ethereum's long-term appreciation. According to chain analytics platform Lookonchain, Ethereum whales have recently withdrawn more than $64 million worth of ETH from Binance and Kraken.

Whales are hoarding $ETH!

0x8B94 has withdrawn 14,632 $ETH ($45.5M) from #Binance and deposited shares in the last 6 days.

2 Fresh Well wallets have withdrawn $6K ETH ($18.7M) from #Kraken in the last 2 days. pic.twitter.com/J0ewl8S3OX

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 26, 2024

Instead of being traded on an exchange, the funds are quickly transferred to linked wallets or wallets. This shows confidence that locking ETH to participate and approve transactions on Ethereum's shareholding blockchain will result in significant gains in the value of the token.

Technical chart analysis shows the possibility of significant upward movement in Ethereum price. ETH recovered over 5% last week to regain the key $3,000 level.

But financial analyst Raul Pal pointed to a “mega wedge” pattern that suggests plenty of room to run. If ETH continues to support around $3,000, the price may start to face strong resistance around $3,500.

With so much activity on Ethereum for both decentralized finance and NFTs, investors seem to be betting that ETH has yet to emerge.