As became known thanks to the transparency of blockchain and cryptocurrency, a large Ethereum whale has acquired billions of Shiba Inu (SHIB), the popular meme-inspired cryptocurrency. 

According to Arkham Intelligence data, an unknown major ETH holder with the address "0xE996" acquired about 64.8 billion SHIB, worth about $834,620, in the last eight hours. This is the first time the unknown investor has interacted with the Shiba Inu coin but not his first transaction with this wallet, as there were already 1,680 ETH, equivalent to about $3.34 million, and some other Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies, like LINK, AVAX, AAVE, PAXG and BNB. 

In total, the balance of this wallet exceeds $5.14 million. What is unusual, though, is that all these coins were actually bought in the last eight hours. Not just SHIB. The last transaction before today's and eventually the first one of this wallet was made two months ago.

Suddenly the address started receiving cryptocurrency again, reaching up to $5 million in just a few hours. Another thing to note is that all the receipts came from the same unrecognized addresses - three of them to be exact. These wallets still hold about $5.2 million in crypto assets. 

This fact leads to the idea that all these addresses may be owned by one entity; the lack of any ties to major exchanges also indirectly signal this. It could be an individual investor, or an entity such as a market maker or fund manager. 

Nevertheless, there is a big shift in Ethereum-based coins, and Shiba Inu is right at the epicenter of this movement. The meme-inspired cryptocurrency, often seen as speculative, is now receiving attention from deep-pocketed players, even if the motivations behind these large transactions remain unclear.