Whale Transactions Surge: The Projects to Watch in Crypto in 2025

The cryptocurrency sector is experiencing an uptick in activity from large holders of digital assets, better known as whales.

Over the past week, several projects have seen a notable uptick in not just whale activity but in the number of transactions those whales are making, with many of the trades being of very high value—$100K or more. This is, in part, why I say the Bitcoin price is bullish.

At the forefront this week is DeXe Protocol ($DEXE). Following closely are Nexo ($NEXO), OKX ($OKB), and some other prominent tokens like MakerDAO ($MKR), Gala ($GALA), and Polygon ($POL). These projects are attracting the attention of larger players, which could mean we are about to see some development action or strategic deployment that might have a market impact.

Leading the whale activity this week is DeXe Protocol ($DEXE), which has been enjoying substantial attention from whales. DeXe has been making some major moves during the first quarter of 2025, with the most significant being reaching the milestone of over $1.7 billion in total value locked (TVL, which is a term used in the decentralized finance space to describe how much money that has been locked in contracts, and thus is out of circulation) within its ecosystem. On top of that, DeXe says it has over $320 million in governance staking (which is when token holders in this case stake DEXE to secure the network and also to participate in voting to make decisions about what happens to the protocol). So not only does DeXe have a lot of real value in what it’s doing, it’s by far the largest altcoin. And its market cap is around $1.7 billion.

These stunning amounts are not merely figments of the imagination; they show DeXe’s burgeoning clout within the decentralized finance (DeFi) universe. Growing adoption of the DeXe protocol and its power to attract large-scale, institutional, and whale investments indicate that DeXe might be putting down roots as a key player, not only in the DeFi space, but also in governance. For those sniffing around for promising projects, the uptick in ghastly amounts of whale transactions in $DEXE suggests that this might be a project to watch, poised for some pretty serious fireworks in 2025.

Next on the list is Nexo ($NEXO), a leading competitor in the crypto lending sector. Nexo is one of the most well-regarded options among crypto investors for yield-generating opportunities. It is a platform that many investors see as an anchor in an otherwise rapidly changing environment in the crypto space. And the transactions we have seen of late involving the platform’s token, $NEXO, have indicated that not only are smaller retail investors seen doing more with the platform, but larger players also seem to be using it. The token’s price behavior in recent weeks is a solid sign that the bigger investors behind the platform clearly also see Nexo as a top contender for a space in the future of digital finance.

Whale interest is also significant for OKX’s $OKB token. OKX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is associated with liquid, high-volume trading. When whales transact in $OKB, we take it as an indicator of how much they trust and use OKX’s exchange ecosystem. Serving as one of the leading platforms, OKX is in a prime position to benefit from all the institutional capital that seems to be flooding into the crypto space these days. That, in turn, is strengthening its market position and definitely fueling some whale transactions.

The decentralized finance ecosystem has a firm foundation that consistently includes MakerDAO ($MKR). In what serves as a prime example of how widely used the projects and tokens of the DeFi space can be, $MKR is an essential part of the DeFi landscape, alongside its stablecoin, Dai. In what may signal an uptick in how much capital is going to be governed by $MKR in the future, a recent report indicates that major players in the DeFi space—whales—have been governing major shifts in the DeFi landscape, all while going on a shopping spree to collect $MKR of their own.

Whale interest is rising in Gala Games ($GALA), and that’s very good news for the blockchain gaming space. Whale transactions for GALA have increased significantly lately, which suggests that high-net-worth individuals and institutions are starting to take a serious look at not just Gala Games, but at the entire concept of blockchain gaming.

Gala Games has positioned itself as a leader in the intersection of blockchain technology and gaming. The company has a number of game development partners, and the actual games they produce are pivotal to the success of the Gala Games ecosystem.

At the same time, Ethereum’s scaling solution (and not its Layer 2 solution), Polygon ($POL), keeps gaining traction. Why? Because the crypto whales, in particular, have started taking notice. Why are we mentioning this? Because the current boost in the number of whale transactions with $POL—coupled with the increased prices of both Ethereum and the Ethereum Classic tokens—points to some real, albeit quiet, recent growth in both the Polygon and Ethereum ecosystems.

Besides the more established market players, there is also significant whale interest surrounding Ethena Labs’ ($USDe) and PayPal’s new stablecoin, $PYUSD. $USDe, a decentralized stablecoin, is attempting to stake a claim in the same realm as the centralized stablecoins USDT and USDC. The whale activity around $USDe suggests that Ethena Labs’ attempt to create a more decentralized stablecoin is paying dividends in the form of interest from institutional investors who seem to be targeting more varied options in the stablecoin market.

In the same way, large investors have begun to take notice of PayPal’s movement into the crypto world with the launch of its own stablecoin, $PYUSD. Of all the financial establishments in the world, investors in stablecoins might feel most secure doing business with PayPal, whose reputation for trustworthiness is second to none. Transactions worth $PYUSD don’t go unnoticed, and when large sums are moved, as happens with whale transactions, it often leads to speculation about the health and viability of the underlying asset.

Following the money trail is a favorite pastime of investors. In the crypto space, when it comes to discerning the direction of major capital flows, few strategies are as effective as tracking transactions made by large holders of digital assets. The past week provided yet another reminder of why this is the case.

For a handful of cryptocurrencies, not just any handful but some of the handiest and most relevant tokens in the current DeFi, CeFi, and NFT ecosystems, recent tracking of whale activity has raised quite a few eyebrows.

Whale watch is closely tied to the concept of market efficiency. The efficient-market hypothesis holds that all known information is reflected in asset prices. If big holders of assets such as cryptocurrencies are doing something, we should know about it, because it might affect asset prices.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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