What Cryptocurrency Investors Acquired Following the August Decline

Key Takeaways:

• During the August downturn, crypto whales acted swiftly, investing over $600,000 into meme coins such as BONK as prices fell.
• Ethereum experienced a resurgence in interest, with one whale acquiring more than 101,000 ETH — approximately a $350 million purchase.
• Mantle made a subtle resurgence, with its token increasing by 68% and user engagement surpassing Arbitrum, attracting attention from savvy investors.

Tariffs are back in discussion, U.S. macroeconomic indicators are weakening, and even unemployment statistics are under scrutiny — collectively, this has triggered volatility across global markets.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $115,000 support level, and some analysts now caution that the price may dip below $110,000. Ethereum (ETH) continues to hold above $3,500, likely buoyed by its robust performance in July. While some investors are exercising caution, others view the recent decline as a chance to purchase at a lower price.

Crypto analyst Quinten described this as “the most aggressive pace” whales have exhibited in recent market movements. However, smart capital did not rush into every asset. This article examines which assets drew the attention of crypto whales during the August downturn.

Smart money is acquiring at the most aggressive pace in history pic.twitter.com/hXzJeb0tI0

— Quinten | 048.eth (@QuintenFrancois) August 5, 2025

Crypto Whales Turn to Meme Coins

This summer has unofficially become a season for meme coins. Following the dramatic rise of Useless Coin (USELESS), a meme coin on Solana launched via LetsBonk.Fun, major players began to take notice. USELESS emerged as a representation of the Pump.Fun versus LetsBonk.Fun competition — and LetsBonk.Fun even outperformed its rival in terms of volume, revenue, and other metrics. As its name implies, LetsBonk.Fun has connections to the earlier meme coin Bonk (BONK).

The expansion of the LetsBonk.Fun ecosystem reflected BONK’s performance. In July, BONK surged to nearly $0.00004, achieving an approximate 200% increase within a month. However, by early August, the price had retraced to $0.000023 — marking a decline of about 40% from its peak.

Source: TradingView

On-chain analytics indicate that whales capitalized on this decline to gather BONK. The growth of LetsBonk.Fun appears to have instilled new optimism in the meme coin. On August 5 alone, over $600,000 in smart capital flowed into BONK.

$BONK @bonk_inu is the most purchased token by smart money in the last 24 hours pic.twitter.com/6mPQSRgHf0

— Stalkchain (@StalkHQ) August 4, 2025

Ethereum vs. Bitcoin: Where Is Smart Capital Going?

Bitcoin continues to be a long-standing preference among crypto whales, particularly with firms like MicroStrategy consistently acquiring BTC. However, Ethereum’s rally in July seems to have slightly altered the narrative.

Both BTC and ETH underwent corrections, and ETF inflows indicate that investors are exercising caution. Nevertheless, their trading volumes are closer than anticipated. Bitcoin still leads due to its larger market capitalization, but the gap is narrowing.

As of August 6, BTC’s trading volume was recorded at $288 billion, while ETH reached $211 billion, according to Token Terminal. Ethereum experienced a nearly 50% increase in July, while Bitcoin remained stable — raising the question of whether capital is beginning to shift elsewhere.

Source: Token Terminal

One whale, for instance, accumulated 101,131 ETH during the dip — valued at over $350 million at current prices.

A whale/institution created 4 wallets and gathered 101,131 $ETH($361M) from #FalconX, #GalaxyDigital, and #BitGo in the past 2 days.https://t.co/dacATlg23Chttps://t.co/pcE5bknETOhttps://t.co/LPOL8Hx74Nhttps://t.co/dZHgqOsXMs pic.twitter.com/VtwciLFcKB

— CryptoKiv (@Cryptokiv100x) August 6, 2025

Mantle’s Return?

Mantle (MNT), an Ethereum Layer 2 network, is experiencing a resurgence. After a period of low activity, both the project and its native token are back in the limelight. MNT was launched in 2023 and has undergone several sharp rallies followed by corrections. However, in July, the price rose from $0.56 to $0.94 by August 6 — an increase of approximately 68%.

Network statistics also indicate heightened activity. According to Nansen, Mantle ranked second in active user growth over the past 30 days. Both transaction volume and network fees have increased, signaling renewed engagement. Mantle even surpassed its competitor Arbitrum (ARB) in user growth, although both recorded similar fee volumes.

This may imply that Ethereum Layer 2 solutions are finally garnering the investor interest they have been seeking.

Notable figures in the crypto space are also endorsing Mantle. One such example is Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit.

Big things are happening to mantle, l tune in to my “H1 2025 Keynote” tomorrow, will disclose all the alpha. https://t.co/5Eh1ImKt10 https://t.co/AZDhWiBF9T

— Ben Zhou (@benbybit) August 5, 2025

Additionally, Mantle’s stablecoin market capitalization is increasing — another indicator of capital inflows.

Money is flowing into Mantle(@Mantle_Official) — stablecoin market cap on Mantle has surged 22.85% in the past 7 days, reaching $653.51M.
Mantle (@Mantle_Official) is now listed on the Strategic ETH Reserve and contributes 101,867 $ETH($388M).
Meanwhile, $MNT is up nearly 25% today. pic.twitter.com/jIlfTQmNdL

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 5, 2025

Conclusion

Crypto whales did not remain passive during the August downturn — they took action. From meme coins to Layer 2 investments and ETH accumulation, whales made significant moves. While retail investors hesitated, larger players appeared to view this correction as a buying opportunity. The current question is whether these actions will yield positive results — or if further volatility is on the horizon.

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