Vitalik RISC-V Proposal Gunned Down By ARB Devs: Tom Lee Hits $3.5M Loss, Whale Bids $1Bn, Ethereum Price Prediction
BY
Ben Graham
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Ethereum price prediction watchers got a triple-shot of chaos this week: Vitalik’s RISC-V push hit resistance from Arbitrum developers, a high-profile ETH whale trade went sideways, and a mystery mega-buyer stepped in with a billion-dollar bid.
Put together, it’s the kind of mixed signal cocktail that makes traders either panic-sell or load bags with a grin. Ethereum isn’t lacking narrative right now: it’s drowning in them. The real question is which story wins the next few weeks: slower, careful roadmap upgrades, or raw market positioning from whales who treat dips like black friday.
Let’s unpack what actually happened, and what it could mean for ETH next.
Did Arbitrum Devs Just Kill Vitalik’s RISC-V Dream?
Back in April, Vitalik Buterin floated a long-term idea to move Ethereum’s execution layer away from EVM bytecode and towards RISC-V, the open instruction set architecture widely used in zkVMs. The pitch is simple: RISC-V is cleaner and more efficient for zero-knowledge proofs, and could help Ethereum scale by significantly reducing proving costs over time.
Recently, Arbitrum’s core devs at Offchain Labs didn’t torch the goal, but they did challenge the route. They argue that Ethereum shouldn’t “enshrine” RISC-V as the on-chain delivery format just because today’s proving stack likes it.
They want a split brain: use a delivery ISA best suited for smart contract deployment, and a proving ISA that can evolve with zk tech.
In their view, WebAssembly (WASM) is the better delivery layer because it is hardware-agnostic, easier to validate, better supported by tooling, and future-proof if the zkVM standard shifts again.
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Why Did Tom Lee Eat a $3.5M Hit While a Whale Dropped a $1.25Bn Bid?
Tom Lee, now closely linked with ETH-treasury plays through BitMine Immersion, reportedly took a $3.5M loss on recent ETH positioning as price slid and volatility spiked. This brings to the forefront Lee’s growing public association with crypto-treasury strategy this cycle, including his focus on ETH.
At the same time, on-chain watchers flagged a monster ETH accumulation worth roughly $1.25Bn. The buyer is rumored to be an old, long-dormant “Satoshi-era” wallet or a similarly experienced macro whale. That framing is speculation, but the behaviour fits a veteran playbook.
Buy hard into fear, then let recovery do the work. Whether it’s insider-level conviction or just a trader who has survived every cycle since 2015, the signal is the same: someone with deep pockets sees these levels as a value.
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Ethereum Price Prediction: Bounce Setup or More Chop Ahead?
In a 4-hour timeframe, the ETH price has bounced from the $2.7K area, which represents an intense support build-up since the start of the last rally. Since the price broke above the 200 EMA and SMA, it has been seeking support, and this region now appears promising.
The RSI indicator is bottoming out after dipping several times into the oversold zone. Volume has been weak, but demand is there, as evidenced by big whales. The next zone to look for is the $3300. If buyers step in and we have favorable market conditions, this will be met promptly.
(Source – TradingView)
On the weekly timeframe, we can see that the price got rejected for the second time at the ATH near $5000. After the rejection, it broke below the $4,000 support level and is now looking for the next significant support at the 200 EMA and SMA combined with multi-year trend support.
RSI is at 40, which is below average and close to oversold. The MACD has been correcting deeply into negative territory for the past 4 weeks, and volume is higher than usual due to the recent drawdown.
With Christmas on the horizon, we can expect less volatile markets, and a slow but steady growth wouldn’t be out of the question.
(Source – TradingView)
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Key Takeaways
The post Vitalik RISC-V Proposal Gunned Down By ARB Devs: Tom Lee Hits $3.5M Loss, Whale Bids $1Bn, Ethereum Price Prediction appeared first on 99Bitcoins.