Singapore’s Largest Bank Holds $650M in ETH: Details

On-chain intelligence platform Nansen has found that Singapore’s largest banking and financial services company DBS Bank holds a significant amount of Ether (ETH).

According to Nansen’s findings, DBS Bank holds more than 173,700 ether (ETH), worth over $650 million at the time of writing.

Singapore’s DBS is an Ethereum Whale

Nansen revealed that the crypto wallet address linked to DBS Bank has made more than $200 million in profit by holding ETH. 

While it remains unclear if the assets belong to DBS, a community member said the bank could be holding the stash on behalf of its crypto exchange investors and not as investments. DBS launched a self-directed crypto trading feature for its digibank app in September 2022, two years after it unveiled a crypto digital asset custody service and security token offerings on its platform.

Multiple reports from crypto media that have reached out to the firm to confirm Nansen’s claims suggest that the assets are from the bank’s clients. The company’s spokesperson said the bank does not have the position in its books but declined to disclose if the entity’s digital exchange or custody solutions hold the private keys to the wallet.

Whales Accumulate ETH Ahead of ETF Launch

Nansen’s latest discovery comes as the Ethereum whales increase their exposure to ETH, most likely in anticipation of price rises due to the upcoming launch of the first wave of Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the spot Ethereum ETFs for listing on exchanges last Thursday after market experts increased the odds of the approvals. With the ETF issuers having updated their S-1 filings with the SEC, community members expect the funds to be launched by late June.

While the ETF launch date looms, Ethereum whales have steadily accumulated ETH. A recent report from on-chain analytics firm Santiment revealed a notable surge in the ETH balances of addresses holding more than 10,000 ETH, highlighting a switch from distribution to accumulation. 

Notably, wallets with at least 10,000 ETH have increased their holdings by roughly 27% in the past 14 months, accumulating roughly 21.39 million ETH.