On February 2nd, two major Ethereum whales sold approximately $371 million worth of ETH within just 48 hours to repay outstanding loans on Aave. This series of on-chain operations occurred amid intense volatility in the DeFi market, indicating that high-leverage funds are actively reducing risk exposure and also raising market concerns about Ethereum’s price trajectory and the security of DeFi lending.
On-chain data shows that BitcoinOG (1011short) transferred out 121,185 ETH, worth about $292 million, over two days, and withdrew approximately $92.5 million in stablecoins to repay Aave debts. The remaining fund usage has not been disclosed, possibly for rebalancing or liquidity management. Despite this, the address still holds over 30,000 BTC and a large amount of ETH, remaining one of the most influential individual holders in the crypto market. This operation is viewed as active deleveraging rather than a liquidation trigger.
Another entity, Trend Research, sold 33,589 ETH, about $79 million, within 20 hours, nearly all of which was used to repay Aave loans. The organization still holds over 610,000 ETH and has been one of the most active long-term holders recently. Previously, it borrowed large amounts of stablecoins via Aave to buy ETH, and now it is beginning to unwind leverage, reflecting cautious responses to short-term market fluctuations.
Notably, on January 31st, Aave completed over $140 million in automatic liquidations across multiple chains, while this $371 million sell-off was voluntary debt repayment. The two events occurred within 48 hours, highlighting the coexistence of pressure and stability in DeFi lending systems during high volatility periods.
Despite the short-term risk increase, Aave’s ETH deposit size still reached a new high in January, and the protocol continues to rank first in DeFi locked assets. For the market, this whale deleveraging appears more like an upgrade in risk management, adding new uncertainties to the crypto market outlook for 2026.
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