Curve price likely to sustain weekend gains of 17% as whales buy more CRV tokens

• Curve CRV observed an increase in accumulation by whales on exchanges like Binance over the weekend. 
• Whale wallet purchases are likely to prop CRV price higher as investors scoop up 16 million Curve tokens.
• Supply of CRV held by large wallet investors climbed consistently in September, alongside declining selling pressure.

Curve DAO (CRV), the utility token of the Curve.fi DeFi protocol, noted an increase in purchase by large wallet investors. Whales flocked to centralized exchanges like Binance, to add CRV to their token holdings.

CRV price climbed 17% from Friday’s intraday low of $0.4372 to $0.5154, early on Monday. The DeFi token’s gains are likely sustainable, according to on-chain metrics and whale activity.

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Curve CRV token accumulation by whales

Two large wallet investors have added 16 million CRV tokens worth $8.39 million, since September 24, as per data from crypto intelligence tracker, Spot on Chain. Whale identified as “0xefb,” added 5.78 million CRV tokens at an average price of $0.51, less than 24 hours ago.

Another large wallet investor “0xdf1,” added 10.3 million CRV at $0.53. Over the past four days, the address has accumulated nearly 20 million CRV tokens (approximately 19.56 million). Whale accumulation activity is considered bullish for an asset, when paired with a decrease in supply of the token on centralized exchanges.

In the case of Curve CRV, there has been a decline in supply held across centralized exchanges. Between September 1 and 25, CRV tokens in exchange wallets dropped from 156.47 million to 155.93 million, according to Santiment data. The decline is explained by the exchange outflows. Early on Monday, there was a net outflow of 15,950 CRV tokens.

Combined with the increase in supply held by whale addresses, up nearly 3% in September, these on-chain metrics paint a bullish picture for CRV price. 

CRV supply on exchanges, exchange netflow and supply held by top addresses as % of total supply, as seen on Santiment

CRV price bearish take: Curve could tumble in six months

Michael Egorov, Curve founder, sold CRV tokens worth approximately $65 million to twenty counterparties in Over-the-Counter (OTC) deals. These handshake agreements required the parties to hold on to their CRV tokens for six months, effectively removing a large volume of Curve from circulation, until February 2024.

@HsakaTrades, popular crypto analyst and trader, tweeted about the handshake agreement, informing his 455,900 followers. 

Crypto analyst @DumpWatcher notes a “mad rush” to sell CRV by retail investors, while institutions that participated in the deals, wait on the sidelines. The analyst highlights the possibility that once the six month time period is complete, CRV price could plummet, as both retail investors and institutions rush to shed their token holdings. This fuels a bearish narrative for the asset. 

At the time of writing, CRV price is $0.5138 on Binance. The DeFi token yielded 12.92% gains to holders over the past month and upwards of 17% gains, over the weekend.

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