Key Insights:
- Ethereum total value staked pushes to new historic levels despite short-term market uncertainties.
- Whale order book data reveal a shift in favor of short-term recovery.
- Visa embraces Ethereum and other top blockchains for stablecoin payment settlement.
January kicked off with Ethereum set to take full advantage of the rapidly rising blockchain adoption in the financial industry.
However, the rollercoaster events that have taken place in the first month of the year had a significant impact on the network, as well as its native coin, ETH crypto.
Some of the key Ethereum metrics reflect the current market cooldown, reflecting investor panic and lower demand. Take, for example, the total value locked, which fell from a monthly high of $75.5 billion to $65 billion at press time.
However, one Ethereum crypto metric signaled healthy long-term demand. The network’s total value staked just closed the month at a new all-time high above 36.74 million ETH.
The rising total value staked suggests that a significant amount of the ETH crypto is flowing out of the market. A rising staked value is often locked for extended durations rather than short-term sell pressure.
Whales Stake Ethereum Crypto After Recent ETH Price Dip
The rising total value staked is often considered a bullish signal. However, it is not the only sign that Ethereum (ETH) price could be headed for a short-term relief.
Large order book data revealed that whales are buying Ethereum price after the latest dip. According to CoinGlass, whale flows were green across the board.
For context, Ethereum whales contributed over $55 million worth of net spot flows in the last 2 days across Binance, OKX, and Coinbase. The whales also executed over $5.6 billion in net longs during the same 2-day period.
This suggests that whales expect some short-term recovery after the bearish price action this week. Ethereum (ETH) price tanked by over 14% from its weekly opening price to its $2,399 press time price tag.
The same price tag was equivalent to a 19% dip from its opening price in January. This was its fifth consecutive month in the red.
Ethereum price was deeply oversold on the daily chart, with price revisiting levels last seen at the tail end of July. Despite this, the price demonstrated potential for more downside before retesting the next key support zone just below $2,200.
ETH price may be ready for some recovery now that it is extremely oversold. However, macro factors have been driving crypto market sentiment. Relief from such may facilitate demand resurgence.
Visa Goes On-chain Through Ethereum
Real-world adoption has been accelerating and it is expected to be a key growth driver in 2026. Many traditional finance firms have expressed interest in adopting blockchain technology, mostly through tokenization.
Blockchain adoption as an underlying technology has mostly been overlooked, but it could also be another key growth driver. Interestingly, global payment processing giant Visa, is the latest traditional finance company to embrace blockchain.
Visa recently announced that it will be using stablecoin payments as part of its services. Moreover, those payments will be facilitated by the Ethereum network and a few other top blockchains.
This development means Ethereum is rapidly becoming one of the rails supporting the global payments industry. This may not immediately yield more demand for the Ethereum (ETH) price, but it could fuel long-term demand and value.