A large ETH purchase can look like a vote of confidence in the market. On November 2, Lookonchain initially flagged wallet 0x9EcA as a whale buying ETH; later, citing investigator ZachXBT, it linked the wallet’s purchases to funds associated with a suspected theft from an unnamed European Union entity.
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The reported purchase—27,553 ETH for $62.97 million—was not the same as the suspected loss. Investigators put the loss at more than $106 million across multiple centralized-exchange accounts, so the ETH buy represented only part of the reported amount.
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From whale alert to suspected theft link
At 01:17 UTC, an alert reported that 0x9EcA had spent $37.96 million in USDC to buy 16,658 ETH over two hours, at an average price of $2,279, and was still buying.
38 Lookonchain separately described the completed activity as a $62.97 million purchase of 27,553 ETH over five hours, at an average of $2,286.
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The later attribution changed how the buying should be read. Lookonchain said, citing ZachXBT, that the suspected attacker used 0x9EcA to buy the ETH and moved funds through multiple platforms.
7 That makes the purchase a reported part of suspected fund movements—not evidence on its own that a trader was “buying the bottom.”
What investigators reported about the fund movements
Reporting based on ZachXBT’s alert says funds were withdrawn from multiple exchange accounts in USDC and USDT. The suspected attacker then moved funds through several assets and services, including swaps into ETH, instant exchanges such as Kyrrex and WellWallet, conversions into Monero through Wagyu, and cross-chain transfers.
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One report said ZachXBT published 11 Ethereum addresses associated with the suspected theft.
18 That provides leads for tracking transactions, but does not by itself identify the victim, explain how the accounts were accessed, or establish the full route of every asset.
What remains unknown—and what the buying says about ETH
The entity was described as an unidentified EU organization, and the affected exchanges were not named in the available reporting. The reports also do not establish how the accounts were compromised.
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22 The evidence therefore supports describing the incident as a suspected theft, not treating the victim’s identity or the attack method as confirmed.
The ETH purchase should not be mistaken for a reliable market signal. If ETH was acquired as part of moving suspected stolen funds, the transaction does not show ordinary investment intent or confirm a market bottom. Later conversions could create selling pressure, but the available reports do not establish whether, when, or how much ETH might be sold.