In early May 2025, the Ethereum (ETH) market witnessed contrasting actions from large investors, commonly known as whales.
These opposing behaviors from whales present investors with both risks and opportunities.
Contrasting Ethereum Whales’ Actions
On one hand, several Ethereum whales are accumulating ETH in large quantities. An ETH whale purchased 3,029.6 ETH valued at $5.74 million. However, this whale currently faces a temporary loss of $142,000 as the price has dropped to $1,842 per ETH.
On May 1, 2025, Lookonchain reported that multiple whale addresses accumulated thousands of ETH within two hours. These actions indicate that some major investors remain confident in ETH’s long-term potential despite short-term price volatility.
On the other hand, selling pressure from Ethereum whales is significant. On May 2, 2025, OnchainLens reported that a whale deposited 2,680 ETH on Kraken, incurring an estimated loss of around $255,000.
Meanwhile, analysts revealed that another whale transferred 3,000 ETH to Kraken within 10 minutes on the same day, signaling a strong intent to sell.
10 minutes ago, a whale 0xaDd deposited 3k $ETH (~$5.53M) into #Kraken.
Those $ETH were bought since ICO and have been dormant in 3 years before depositing.
Just now, he still has 2k $ETH (~$3.69M) in his wallet.
Notably, a whale who received 76,000 ETH during the 2015 ICO sold 6,000 ETH, potentially securing a profit of $10.92 million.
Additionally, on May 1, 2025, on-chain data showed a whale increasing their short position by borrowing an additional 4,000 ETH. This whale is bringing their total short position to 10,000 ETH, equivalent to approximately $18.4 million.
These moves highlight a clear divergence in Ethereum whale strategies, with accumulation and selling creating significant pressure on ETH’s price.
Market Context and Investor Sentiment
The volatility in whale behavior coincides with a crypto market influenced by various factors. According to BeInCrypto, ETH’s price gained 10% in a week but slightly decreased in the last 24 hours. It is hovering around $1,842—a notable decline from its March 2025 peak of $2,500.
Ethereum Price Chart in the Past Month. Source: TradingView
Despite this, market sentiment shows some positive signs. Ethereum investment products also saw US$183m inflows last week following an 8-week run of outflows. The Ethereum spot ETF had a total net inflow of US$6.4932 million yesterday. This reflects sustained long-term interest from institutions, even amid short-term selling pressure from whales.
Furthermore, a whale’s large 10,000 ETH short position suggests expectations of a near-term price decline, potentially amplifying downward pressure if market sentiment turns negative.
Meanwhile, retail investors appear to be affected by this uncertainty, with ETH trading volume on exchanges dropping 10% over the past 24 hours.
Risks and Opportunities
The opposing actions of whales place investors at a crossroads of risks and opportunities. On the risk side, the selling pressure from whales, particularly the significant short position, could lower ETH’s price in the short term, especially given the overbought market conditions.
However, opportunities also abound. Whales’ accumulation of thousands of ETH reflects long-term confidence in Ethereum’s potential, particularly as the network continues to lead in DeFi, with a total value locked (TVL) of $52 billion in May 2025, according to DefiLlama.
Analyst Merlijn has shown that Ethereum’s current price structure is similar to that of Bitcoin in 2020. Accordingly, he believes that Ethereum will witness a strong boom if history repeats itself.
Ethereum is showing the same structure. Source: Merlijn
Ethereum risks losing developers to Solana, which is gaining momentum due to better startup support and a streamlined user experience.
Yet, technical upgrades like Ethereum 2.0 and the growth of Layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum and Optimism also support ETH’s long-term development.
Investors might view the current lower price levels as an opportunity to accumulate, but they should closely monitor whale activities and technical indicators to mitigate correction risks.
The state of security across the crypto and blockchain space has changed significantly in the past few months. Traditional smart contracts exploited or brute force attacks on blockchain networks are being superseded by crypto scams like rug pulls and pump-and-dump schemes.
BeInCrypto spoke with a spokesperson from security firm CertiK to understand how blockchain and security threats are evolving and how projects and users can safeguard against future exploits.
Social Media Hacks on the Rise
Over the past few months, the crypto community has seen a rise in social media-related hacks. This increasingly common tendency has pivoted away from the orchestration of more sophisticated blockchain attacks that have traditionally plagued headlines.
Whereas smart contract exploits or blockchain hacks require more knowledge, hackers have found an easier avenue by targeting social media accounts instead.
X (formerly Twitter) has quickly become the social media platform of choice among Web3 hackers.
Social Media is Now a Prime Target for Web3 Hackers
After US President Donald Trump launched his meme coin only two days before assuming office, hackers began to take advantage of the hype to hack high-profile X accounts and convince followers to invest in scam meme coins.
Last month, anonymous hackers took over the X account of the former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to promote MALAYSIA, a fake meme coin promoted as the country’s official cryptocurrency.
The post was removed within an hour, but the damage was done. Analysis shows that these hackers were probably related to the infamous Russian Evil Corp and that they stole $1.7 million in this rug pull.
The MALAYSIA token scam happened only two weeks after hackers exploited former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s social media account. In that instance, scammers promoted the BRAZIL token, which rose over 10,000% in minutes, netting the scammers over $1.3 million.
These scams have also affected technological companies.
Attacks on Tech Companies
In December, AI research and development company Anthropic also saw its X account hacked. A fraudulent post claimed that a fake token called CLAUDE would incentivize AI and crypto projects and included a wallet address for investors.
Attackers managed to collect around $100,000 from speculative investors.
These situations also highlight a broader issue of weak account security on social media platforms. As a result, even prominent individuals are susceptible to security breaches that directly affect the crypto community.
TRUMP Meme Coin Launch Was a Catalyst For Crypto Scams
“Now is the time to talk about the fact that large-scale political coins cross a further line: they are not just sources of fun, whose harm is at most contained to mistakes made by voluntary participants, they are vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation states,” Buterin claimed.
Buterin highlighted the tokens’ role in enabling scams and political corruption in crypto and blamed a regulatory loophole former SEC Chair Gary Gensler created for allowing bad actors to exploit governance tokens.
However, these crypto scams extend beyond political themes.
Growth of Social Engineering Exploits
A week after Buterin cautioned against political meme coins, a Coinbase user lost $11.5 million after falling victim to a social engineering scam on Base.
Crypto sleuth ZackXBT uncovered the exploit, pointing out that this incident is part of a growing trend, with multiple Coinbase users suffering similar losses. He also estimates that crypto scams of this nature have drained at least $150 million from Coinbase customers.
“Coinbase has a serious fraud problem. I just uncovered many more recent thefts from Coinbase users. The $150 million stolen from Coinbase users in a year is just from thefts I independently confirmed. So it’s more than likely multiples of this number,” ZachXBT stated.
In social engineering scams, attackers use phishing emails, spoofed calls, and other deceptive tactics to trick victims into revealing private keys or login credentials. Once they gain access, they drain wallets, move funds, and take control of accounts.
For CertiK, these situations stipulate the need for stronger security measures.
Addressing these security challenges is crucial as new crypto projects increase exponentially.
Prioritizing Proactive Security in a Rapidly Growing Industry
The Web3 sector is experiencing consistent growth, marked by a surge in new crypto project launches. This innovative momentum is expected to continue, but it’s also fueling security concerns.
Notably, the increasing rate of scams and hacks in the first three months of 2025 makes it clear that security efforts are struggling to keep up with innovation.
A study by Precedence Research estimates the Web 3.0 market will expand from USD 4.62 billion in 2025 to approximately USD 99.75 billion by 2034, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41.18% during that period.
Predicted market size of Web3 in the next ten years. Source: Precedence Research.
Yet, CertiK believes that project developers are pushing security considerations toward the end of the priority list.
As the Web3 ecosystem evolves, a proactive and adaptive security approach is critical. Prioritizing both blockchain integrity and social media vigilance will be essential for safeguarding the growing Web3 ecosystem.
The battle against these exploits requires a future where security is not an afterthought but a foundational pillar of every Web3 project and user interaction.
Solana tokens like HOTMOM, DOOD, and IKUN are gaining serious traction as some of the most active and talked-about new launches on the network. HOTMOM is leading the meme coin charge with a $54 million market cap and strong backing from public figures.
DOOD, the official token of the Doodles NFT collection, has quickly attracted nearly 160,000 holders, riding the wave of NFT projects launching native tokens. Meanwhile, IKUN is drawing massive transaction volume and continued whale accumulation, signaling strong momentum despite shifts in smart money behavior.
Hot Mom (HOTMOM)
HOTMOM has quickly become one of the most talked-about Pump tokens, gaining major traction just three days after launch.
With over 6,500 holders and a market cap of $54 million, it’s showing signs of strong early adoption in the meme coin space. If good momentum continues, HOTMOM could rise to test the $100 million market cap.
The token has surged more than 37% in the last 24 hours, backed by impressive activity—logging over 52,000 daily transactions and $8.7 million in trading volume.
According to Nansen, HOTMOM is held by some well-known figures like threadguy, Crypto Ninja, and gake—a Solana smart trader with an on-chain net worth of $1.73 million.
The token has attracted nearly 160,000 holders in just three days and reached a market cap of approximately $53 million, showing strong initial demand across the crypto and NFT communities.
The launch follows a growing trend of major NFT projects rolling out their tokens, similar to what Pudgy Penguins did with PENGU a few months ago and Bored Ape did with APE a few years ago.
Between May 9 and May 12, whale holdings of DOOD jumped dramatically from 69,202 to 250 million, signaling significant early accumulation.
In the last 24 hours, the token recorded 5,509 transactions and $734,000 in trading volume.
Ikun (IKUN)
IKUN has emerged as one of the more active tokens on Solana, with nearly 6,000 holders and a market cap exceeding $12 million.
In the last 24 hours alone, it saw an impressive 112,265 transactions and $37 million in trading volume.
Smart money holdings in IKUN have dipped slightly in recent hours. Public wallets still hold around $320,000 worth of the token. Meanwhile, whales continue to accumulate.
According to Nansen, Unipcs is the largest whale, holding 12.45 million IKUN worth roughly $150,000. Despite shifting dynamics among retail and smart wallets, this ongoing whale activity shows confidence in IKUN’s short-term potential.
