Beneath the surface, blockchain analytics platforms have seen a striking rise in whale activity

Beneath the surface, blockchain analytics platforms have seen a striking rise in whale activity across a number of large cryptocurrencies.

An analysis by blockchain analytics platform Santiment has revealed a striking increase in whale activity across a number of large cryptocurrencies.

This finding, which might give some pause to consider what it might mean for us common folk trading these crypto assets, is due to the fact that whales are powerful entities. They can make or break a market, as they say, by their sheer presence. And in the last week, the 10 cryptocurrencies with the largest percentage increases in transfers to and from entities holding over a million units were not top-tier assets by any means.

The cryptocurrencies with the highest percentage increases in transfers to and from entities holding over 1 million units in the last week are (in no particular order): KCS, USDC (Avalanche), sENA, and WBTC (Optimism).

Other notables in the bunch include UNI, USDT (Avalanche), OP, WLD (Optimism), CRV (Arbitrum), and FLOKI.

🐳 Several cryptocurrencies saw massive increases in whale activity this week. These are the top 10, according to percentage changes among $500M+ marketcaps.

📌 1) @kucoin $KCS

📌 2) @circle $USDC (On Avalanche)

📌 3) @ethena_labs $sENA

📌 4) @wrappedbtc $WBTC (On…https://t.co/qfuGvOPmYA— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 30, 2025

At the head of the list is KCS, the native token of KuCoin, which saw the highest percentage increase in whale transfers among the tracked group. KuCoin exchange has seen a recent uptick in both user engagement and scrutiny, which could mean that its internal wallet movements or outflows to institutions are part of some recent token accumulation. These transfers don’t always mean there are buys or sells happening, but they do often come before a price move, which is something traders tend to watch.

Among the tokens added to the list, the Uniswap token (UNI), the native OP token from Optimism, and the Worldcoin token (WLD)—which both operate on the layer-2 Optimism network—are some of the biggest.

Whale transfers of these tokens may indicate upcoming governance decisions, asset unlocks, or speculative activity. Given the substantial network overlap these tokens have, it would appear that Optimism Capital is Concentrating this week.

The CRV of Curve on Arbitrum is also very prominent. With CRV often serving as a token that incentivizes liquidity in DeFi protocols, large-scale movements could soon signal a major shift either in strategy (if the movement is toward better liquidity) or in market dynamics (if the movement is toward worse liquidity). Host to another rising whale, the meme coin turned utility project, FLOKI, rounds out the list. With movements in FLOKI seemingly also correlated to some upcoming announcements or just some good, ole hype cycles, sloshing around a still very liquid Ethereum could do any number of things in terms of price effects even if the liquid in question is not doing very much in the way of providing real economic value.

For a long time, assets on comparable whale transfer lists—especially non-stablecoin assets—have shown a greater chance of short- to mid-term price reversals. But here’s the thing: this isn’t a guaranteed indicator. And the reason it isn’t shouldn’t really be surprising. After all, the price of an asset is influenced by a whole lot of (often unpredictable) factors.

For traders and investors, this data represents a key opportunity to identify potential entry or exit points. While stablecoin movements typically suggest preparatory positioning, the behavior in volatile tokens like KCS, sENA, UNI, and CRV may offer more actionable signals, especially when paired with price momentum or technical indicators.

These changes in whale behavior are likely to affect the broader trading story in the days ahead, and they could have an effect on volatility, which is already picking up in major markets.