A crypto whale with one of the largest publicly tracked Ethereum wallets just doubled down. Address 0x54d2 borrowed $10 million worth of Ethena’s USDe stablecoin from Aave and used it to scoop up 5,818 ETH at an average price of $1,719 per token.
That’s not a casual buy. It’s a calculated leveraged bet on Ethereum by an address that already holds approximately 131,000 ETH, valued at roughly $288 million at current prices.
Inside the trade
The mechanics here are straightforward DeFi leverage. Borrow a stablecoin against existing collateral on Aave, one of the largest decentralized lending protocols, then use those borrowed funds to buy more of the asset you’re already long on.
The choice of USDe over more traditional stablecoins like USDT or USDC is worth noting. Ethena’s USDe has carved out a growing niche in Aave’s lending markets throughout 2026, with both USDe and its staked variant sUSDe seeing robust activity and liquidity in the hundreds of millions. For large borrowers, that deep liquidity means better execution and lower slippage on sizable loans.
