Lighter and Mantle whales have become active: six-month highs in large transactions
The altcoin market has once again attracted the attention of major players. A surge in "whale" activity has been recorded for two assets — Lighter (LIT) and Mantle (MNT). The number of transactions exceeding $100,000 has reached its highest levels in the past six months, indicating increased interest from institutional and large retail investors in these projects amid volatility.
Lighter (LIT): Tokenomics and Price Growth
According to on-chain analytics data, 86 large transactions were recorded for the LIT token — an absolute record in six months. This surge coincided with dynamic price growth: on Monday, the LIT rate soared by more than 20%, reaching $2.6 — a high since January. Over the week, the asset gained about 37.9%.
The key catalyst was an update to the project's tokenomics. Last month, Lighter introduced a burning mechanism that reduces the total supply of LIT, and also set a staking yield of 6% per annum from a pool of 250 million tokens. Interest in perp DEX, buyback mechanisms, and new partnerships is fueling demand from whales.
Mantle (MNT): Reaction to RWA Growth
An equally telling situation has developed around Mantle. On-chain services recorded 37 transactions with MNT exceeding $100,000 — also a six-month high. Analysts link this activity to the growth of the real-world assets (RWA) segment and interest in tokenized securities.
In Mantle's team report for the first half of the year, historical highs in the on-chain economy were noted: the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi exceeded a record $1 billion, of which $90 million came from RWA solutions. The capitalization of stablecoins on the network reached $955 million, up 120% from a year ago. The network now supports 155 tokenized stocks and has a treasury of over $1.8 billion.
However, the price of the MNT token itself is still moving in line with the general market: it fell by 2% over the day (to $0.431), and by about 11% over the month, although it gained 1.4% over the past week.
My analysis: The growth in large transactions for LIT and MNT is a clear signal that professional investors are eyeing fundamental improvements in the projects. In the case of Lighter, the deflationary model plays a decisive role, while for Mantle, it is the expansion into RWA and stablecoins. However, whether this interest will persist amid the overall market correction remains an open question. For now, whales are betting on long-term narratives.