Ethereum recently experienced a surge of notable whale activity, underscored by hefty buy-ins and staking transfers. SharpLink Gaming has quickly become one of the heavyweights, raking in 188,478 ETH worth about $473.6 million. Expanding recent transaction volume and staking activities are driving Ethereum staked holdings to all-time highs—a clear sign of strong investor confidence.

SharpLink Gaming recently readied up an Ethereum treasury expand. The company bought another 1,989 ETH worth $4.82 million in an OTC transaction. Last week, the firm behind the entity staked 3,201 ETH worth $8.1 million. It just added an astounding 1,888 ETH —approximately $4.56 million —to its staked ETH bounty. Lookonchain data validates SharpLink Gaming’s smart acquisitions. These moves fit in with other large cash outlays by other big players in the space.

This new height of staking activity has pushed total staked Ethereum to an all-time high. At today’s prices, the staked share is worth more than $84 billion, representing the greatest value of staked share in history. At the same time, investors are more frequently opting to commit their Ethereum for the long haul. This trend would put a damper on the available supply on exchanges.

Quickly adding to the upwards pressure, the whale wallet known as “0x1fc7” persisted with their hawkish accumulation. In just a couple of hours, the smart accumulation of key players led to a near 3,877 ETH accumulation, valued at about $9.4 million. This extremely fast stack-up is indicative of the sack Ethereum bullish sentiment that has overtaken the market.

Ethereum exchange netflows today are showing a massive $293 million outflow. Such an outflow signals continued bullish demand and a continued decrease of the supply of Ethereum sitting on exchanges. Additionally, investors’ preference to hold assets or stake them, as opposed to trading them, is propping up the price even more.

Increased blockchain activity and increasing institutional interest in DeFi (decentralized finance) are putting upward pressure on network fees as well. As Sentora and others reported, Ethereum network fees have jumped 130.4% this week.