The meme-inspired cryptocurrency Shiba Inu ($SHIB) has managed to maintain its position as the largest altcoin holding among the largest whales on the Ethereum ($ETH) network amid a cryptocurrency market downturn.

According to data from whale monitoring service WhaleStats, the largest Ethereum whales haven’t divested of their Shiba Inu holdings over the last few months, and keep SHIB as one of their largest holdings, behind Ethereum’s ether ($ETH) only.

The platform’s data shows that the 100 largest whales on the Ethereum network hold $269.7 million worth of ETH, and $5.49 million worth of SHIB, followed by $5.3 million worth of Circle’s USDC stablecoin.

These whales’ next largest holdings are in FTX’s $FTT, at an average of $2.97 million per whale. It’s followed by the native token of the Bitpanda exchange, $BEST, with $1.8 million held per whale on average. Other top holdings include $USDT, $stETH, $CHSV, $MANA, and $MATIC.

As CryptoGlobe reported, SHIB flipped FTT to become Ethereum whales’ largest altcoin holding back in May. WhaleStats’ data shows that SHIB makes up 19.08% of the portfolio of the 100 largest whales on Ethereum, with their total holdings amounting to $548.9 million.

In comparison, FTT amounts to 10.34% of their portfolios, with total holdings being $297.5 million, followed by BEST, which represents 6.4% at $184.2 million. Ethereum whales’ SHIB holdings have been growing over time, with a recent 150 billion SHIB purchasing adding to their holdings.

Earlier this month, SHIB saw its holder count grows past the 1.2 million Ethereum addresses, up from around one million eight months ago. Back in November of last year, the meme-inspired cryptocurrency saw its number of holders move past the 1 million mark even as its price started dropping from a bull market that saw it outperform numerous other assets as its community grew.

Its new milestone past the 1.2 million holder markets came as the on-chain transactions volume for SHIB dropped to a 15-month low. In April 2022, there were around 213,000 SHIB transactions recorded on-chain, down from an all-time high of 1.38 million in October last year, as CryptoGlobe reported. That figure has, in June, dropped to 157,889.

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