Is Abraxas Capital supporting the ETH rally?

Abraxas Capital turned into one of the regular large-scale buyers of Ethereum (ETH). The investment company may also use DeFi lending, freeing up value to acquire more ETH. 

Abraxas Capital continued its Ethereum (ETH) buying operations, this time using decentralized lending to secure liquidity. The series of purchases were part of the growing demand for ETH, as the asset recovered above the $2,500 level. 

ETH took a step back to $2,454.45, leading Abraxas Capital to once again buy the dip. The fund borrowed $240M from Aave and deposited the stablecoins to Binance. 

Abraxas Capital borrowed 240M $USDT from #Aave and deposited it into #Binance in the past 24 hours.

Will they buy more $ETH?https://t.co/1OUR5OeQrw pic.twitter.com/NZZE295iyV

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 13, 2025

In the past weeks, Abraxas was among the top ETH buyers, starting at the early stages of the rally. The fund chose accumulation in its own wallets, withdrawing ETH from exchanges. After withdrawing, the new ETH can once again be used in decentralized protocols to mint wrapped tokens, or as a staking asset. 

Most of the ETH held in the known Abraxas Capital wallets is in various wrapped forms, suggesting highly active DeFi usage. Abraxas accumulated nearly $400M in ETH in the past three days alone, signaling confidence in the asset. 

Abraxas deposits ETH to Compound

In addition to the combination of Aave and Binance, Abraxas Capital also used Bitfinex to acquire more ETH on the open market. 

Abraxas tested a smaller transaction, sending 2.94K ETH to the Compound Bulker wallet. After that, the fund sent another $5M in USDC to Bitfinex. 

The fund’s biggest holding is AWETH, the Aave version of wrapped ETH. The wallet holds over 107K AWETH. Lido’s WSTETH is the second-biggest holding of 71.41K tokens. The wrapped versions suggest Abraxas is deeply involved with the Ethereum ecosystem, and is unlikely to quickly sell. 

Whales turn bullish on ETH

The big question for ETH is whether it would achieve its promised breakout to a higher price range, or even a price record in 2025. After the recent market downturn under $2,500, smart money remained bullish, while retail once again switched to bearish attitudes. 

$ETH Sentiment

CROWD = Bearish 🟥
MP = Bullish 🟩

Check out sentiment and other crypto stats at https://t.co/HQDyBNuzek pic.twitter.com/F6YmfXFe9e

— Market Prophit (@MarketProphit) May 13, 2025

The recent Abraxas purchases were just the tip of the iceberg for ETH, as the chain saw record inflows into accumulation wallets over the past weekend. 

Signs of whale buying also appeared in March and April, as whales were seeking to lower their average entry price for ETH. At the same time, some holder were either taking profit, or abandoning ETH after breaking even. 

Ethereum has increased its on-chain activity in the past days, but returned to a relatively low baseline of gas prices. The Pectra upgrade is yet to show its full effect, but for now, gas for regular transactions is back at $0.08, while swap prices are down by 90% from peak times, to $1.34. 

Ethereum carries $61.13B in total value locked, returning to the levels from February. Lido and Aave have the strongest monthly gains, increasing their total value locked by 49% and 40%, respectively. Ethereum may expect more staking after the Pectra upgrade, as whales will be allowed to lock 2,048 ETH in one deposit. 

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