Today in crypto: Trend Research has become one of Ethereum’s largest corporate whales after its latest purchase raised its holdings to 580,000 Ether (ETH), Anthony Pompliano argued Bitcoin’s dampened price means it won’t crash next year and the International Monetary Fund pressed El Salvador to sell its Chivo Bitcoin wallet.
Trend Research quietly becomes one of Ethereum’s largest whales with 46K ETH buy
Trend Research purchased 46,379 Ether on Wednesday to raise its holdings to about 580,000 ETH, making it larger than most public Ethereum treasuries tracked by CoinGecko.
Only two listed companies, SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies, currently report bigger ETH balances, with 859,853 ETH and 4,066,062 ETH, respectively.
Trend Research is not a publicly listed company and therefore does not appear in most Ethereum treasury rankings. Still, it has drawn industry attention for its rapid ETH accumulation.
Trend Research is a secondary investment institution associated with LD Capital founder Jack Yi, who has been behind a series of large ETH purchases that began in October, blockchain records show.
A machine translation of Yi’s Thursday X post states that his company is preparing another $1 billion to keep buying Ether as he urged traders not to short.
Bitcoin won’t crash in Q1, lacks ‘crazy’ year-end price: Pomp
The lack of an exciting year-end price rally for Bitcoin (BTC) may prevent a significant crash in the first quarter of next year, Anthony Pompliano said on Tuesday.
“Given where the volatility is right now, it would be very surprising that Bitcoin’s volatility has drastically compressed and yet still could get a 70% or 80% drawdown,” Pompliano said.
“We didn’t get a blowoff top that I think people expected at the end of Q3, or beginning of Q4, but we haven’t seen the big 80% drawdown that people normally expect as well,” he added.
Pompliano said that the short-term disappointment from Bitcoin holders over it not reaching $250,000 this year overlooks its broader performance. “We have to remember that Bitcoin is up 100% in two years. It’s up almost 300% in three years. It has been compounding,” he said.
IMF says El Salvador in talks to sell state-run Chivo Bitcoin wallet
The International Monetary Fund’s mission chief for El Salvador issued a statement confirming that government authorities were proceeding with negotiations for the sale of the country’s Chivo Bitcoin wallet.
In a Monday statement, the IMF said El Salvador’s government was continuing to discuss its Bitcoin (BTC) project with the fund’s officials, and “negotiations for the sale of the government e-wallet Chivo are well advanced.” The announcement signaled that the government may be preparing to sell some or all of its crypto holdings in the Chivo wallet.
The statement followed a May deal with El Salvador in which the IMF would pay $120 million as part of a 2024 loan agreement for $1.4 billion. As part of the deal, the government would stop acquiring Bitcoin.
It’s unclear whether El Salvador is abiding by the terms of the deal. Though the IMF reported in July that the country’s government had not purchased any BTC since December 2024, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office continues to announce crypto buys, including 1,090 Bitcoin worth about $100 million in November.
According to the terms of the IMF-El Salvador deal made public, the government would make public sector engagement of BTC-related economic activity “confined,” the private sector’s acceptance of Bitcoin would be voluntary, and it would wind down involvement in the Chivo wallet. Cointelegraph reached out to the IMF for comment, and a spokesperson said negotiations for the sale of Chivo were ongoing and they could not comment about the details of this transaction.
El Salvador recognized Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 and began acquiring the cryptocurrency as part of a strategy largely pushed by President Nayib Bukele. According to data provided by the country’s Bitcoin Office, the government held 7,509 Bitcoin as of Monday, worth about $659 million at the time of publication.
