ETH Outperforms Large-Cap Crypto Assets as OGs Load Up

Ethereum (ETH) is outpacing other large-cap crypto assets today, March 16, gaining over 9% in the past 24 hours. The price surge comes against a backdrop of large ETH buys, including from two early crypto investors, on-chain data shows.

ETH briefly touched $2,300 today and is currently trading around $2,280, up 9% on the day. Bitcoin (BTC) is up 2.8% today, while the remaining top-20 large-caps are mostly seeing gains between 2-6%. After ETH, Layer 1 Cardano (ADA) is up the most, gaining about 8% today, while total market cap surged 3.4%.

While today’s rally pushed ETH to its highest price in a month, the asset is still down about 30% from its mid-January levels, when ETH was trading over $3,300, and over 50% below its all-time high near $5,000, which it hit last August.

The move has been accompanied by a flurry of high-profile accumulation. Erik Voorhees, the founder of ShapeShift and one of Bitcoin and crypto’s earliest and most vocal advocates, today purchased nearly $50 million worth of ETH via two separate transactions at an average price of $2,098 per token, Lookonchain reported, citing data from Arkham. The on-chain analytics firm noted that this is Voorhees’ first ETH purchase in two years.

Separately, Arkham also today flagged that pseudonymous early Ethereum participant 0xbilly — who was an active voice in governance forums in Ethereum’s early days — purchased more than $17 million worth of ETH for about $2,270 per coin.

Corporate accumulation, at least from the largest ETH holders, is also continuing. Today, Tom Lee’s Bitmine announced its latest ETH purchase — slightly higher than last week’s and well above its weekly average — continuing to double down on its target of holding 5% of the Ethereum supply, as The Defiant reported.

Meanwhile, 5,000 ETH of Bitmine’s latest buy (worth over $10 million) was purchased from the Ethereum Foundation itself in an over-the-counter sale over the weekend.

The surge comes at a moment of renewed discussion and interest in Ethereum’s roadmap. The Ethereum Foundation recently outlined its 2026 protocol priorities, with a focus on scalability, user experience, and security ahead of the anticipated Glamsterdam upgrade. More recently, on Friday, the Foundation published the EF Mandate, a part manifesto, part guide for the ecosystem and the EF that has sparked renewed debate.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.