Ethereum Nears $4,000—But Whale Sell-Off and Binance Allegations Cause Uncertainty

Ethereum (ETH) is gradually approaching the psychological level of 4,000 USD, but this milestone remains distant as selling pressure obscures the buyers' excitement.

However, strong institutional interest in Ethereum has recently pushed the largest altcoin by market capital to the 27th position among global assets.

Whales Are Selling Ethereum as Price Rises — But Why Now?

Ethereum's market capital has increased to 471 billion USD, surpassing many large global corporations to rank 27th among all assets.

Meanwhile, amid growth, another force is pulling in the opposite direction. Traders, whales, and observers are warning about large sell-offs and accusing market manipulation.

This opposing force appears just as ETH seems ready to reclaim its ATH.

According to analysts and on-chain data, whales are exiting large positions, with Binance exchange being a common point.

Ted Pillows, an investor and KOL on X (Twitter), accuses Binance of manipulating Ethereum's price by dumping millions of ETH.

In a subsequent post, Ted claims that Binance is transferring ETH to multiple market-making accounts, despite having no excess ETH beyond customer deposits.

"I hate to say this, but Binance is manipulating ETH and the entire altcoin market... How can they transfer so much Ethereum to these accounts when they have no excess ETH, only customer funds?" he wrote.

These statements suggest that selling pressure may be weakening institutional demand. Meanwhile, Binance has not immediately responded to BeInCrypto's request for comment.

The exchange has not publicly responded to the accusations at the time of writing.

Major on-chain events support these concerns, occurring alongside Ethereum's recent price increase.

One address, 0x219...C3c4F, sold 3,000 ETH worth 11.74 million USD, ultimately breaking even after holding since the 2021 price surge. On-chain analyst Ai revealed that this wallet accumulated ETH at an average price of 3,500 USD and endured a 70% drop before exiting with a 1.24 million USD profit.

Another whale, inactive for eight months, sent 1,383 ETH tokens to MEXC, receiving 4.32 million USD. This address still holds 1,384 ETH tokens worth 5.39 million USD.

This highlights a broader pattern of profit-taking as Ethereum approaches an important psychological level.

Not Everyone Believes in Binance's Manipulation Theory

However, the largest warning sign might be a multisignature wallet (0x0cb...E07e4) that recently sent 9,000 ETH, worth approximately 35 million USD, to Kraken exchange.

This address is believed to be linked to high-frequency block builders Beaver Builder and Titan Builder. According to the analyst, it still holds over 18,000 ETH, worth more than 70 million USD, with most still being staked.

On-chain analysts suggest this is not a coincidence, with the selling wave likely reflecting sophisticated players exiting into liquidation. If true, they might be using centralized exchanges (CEX) like Binance and Kraken as an exit route.

A whale trader was reportedly said to have completed the fourth large trade after selling 5,000 ETH at 3,895 USD, worth 19.47 million USD.

It is unclear whether these profits are factored into predictions of a correction or are part of a larger market coordination.

Although Ethereum's technical indicators remain strong and institutional demand is increasing, the shadow of coordinated selling is currently obscuring the price surge.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at 3,906 USD. But the big question is whether the price is being constrained as it approaches the 4,000 USD mark.