Demand for Ether from long-term holders surged on June 12, as the price of the cryptocurrency dipped below $3,500. This buying frenzy occurred just before U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler provided a positive forecast for the approval of spot Ether ETFs.

Ether has recorded one of its most significant days in terms of long-term holder accumulation, following a 2% price drop over 24 hours. CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, highlighted the spike in Ethereum demand in a June 13 post on X. Moreno noted that accumulation addresses acquired 298,000 Ether tokens over a 24-hour period on June 12, amounting to roughly $1.34 billion at the time.

This volume was just 6% shy of the record set on September 11, 2023, when long-term holders bought 317,000 Ether as its price fell below $1,600. The increased demand came amid an 8.49% decline in Ether’s price over the past week. Despite initially dropping below $3,800 on June 8 and failing to bounce back, Ether has managed to stay above $3,400, according to CoinMarketCap data. Currently, Ether is trading at $3,472.

Previous price actions suggest that the $3,500 mark poses a significant resistance level for Ether bulls. Cointelegraph reported on June 11 that a similar dip below $3,500 on April 11 led to a 25% decline, hitting a low of $2,814 by May 2.

Meanwhile, SEC Chair Gary Gensler hinted at the potential final approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by September. During a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Gensler suggested that the regulator could authorize the listing and trading of spot Ether ETFs within the next three months. On May 23, the SEC granted preliminary approval for spot Ether ETFs by accepting 19b-4 filings from eight applicants. However, trading can only commence once the S-1 registration statements are also approved.