The altcoin market has once again caught the attention of "whales." According to on-chain analytics data, whale activity in the Lighter (LIT) and Mantle (MNT) networks has surged to six-month highs. This spike in large transactions occurs amid significant price fluctuations and fundamental changes within the protocols themselves.
Lighter: Tokenomics Ignited the Fuse
Monitoring services recorded 86 transactions involving the LIT token, each exceeding $100,000. This is an absolute record for activity over the past six months. The explosive growth in operations coincided with a powerful rally in the asset itself. On Monday, the LIT price surged over 20%, reaching $2.6 — its highest level since January. The weekly gain stands at an impressive 37.9%.
The reason for this whale attention is clear. Last month, the Lighter team implemented a major tokenomics overhaul. A token burning mechanism was introduced, directly reducing the circulating supply of LIT. Additionally, the platform announced a staking program offering a 6% annual yield from a pool of 250 million LIT. The buyback-and-burn mechanics, along with new partnerships, created a powerful narrative that attracted large players.
Mantle: Betting on Real-World Assets
The Mantle ecosystem is not far behind. Here, 37 large transactions involving MNT, each exceeding $100,000, were recorded — also a six-month high. The key driver of whale interest is the RWA (Real-World Assets) segment.
In its latest report for the first half of the year, the Mantle team reported historic records. The total value locked (TVL) in the DeFi segment exceeded $1 billion, with $90 million attributed to real-world asset solutions. The market capitalization of stablecoins on the platform hit a new high, reaching $955 million (a 120% year-over-year increase). The network now supports 155 tokenized stocks and holds a treasury of over $1.8 billion.
However, the price of the MNT token itself has yet to show similar optimism. Over the past day, MNT fell by 2% to $0.431, and the monthly decline stands at around 11%. Still, the last week saw a slight uptick of 1.4%.
My view: The rise in whale activity is a classic bullish signal, but it must be considered in context. In the case of Lighter, we see a direct reaction to the tokenomics change, and the rally here appears fundamentally justified. With Mantle, the situation is more complex: institutional interest in RWA is undeniable, but the MNT price is currently "stuck" in a sideways trend. Large holders are clearly making a long-term bet on ecosystem growth rather than speculative momentum. Whether they can "push" the price higher remains to be seen.