Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, might be about to make a massive Ethereum sell-off. Specifically, this relates to a fresh rumor – which stems from information made public on Christmas Day. Moreover, the rumor suggests that Buterin may be about to sell $25 million worth of Ethereum.
The last days have seen massive ETH transfers
Back on December 25th, records from the monitoring resource Etherscan first revealed a massive ETH move. In fact, a total of 92,000 ETH were transferred from a single wallet to the American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
Moreover, blockchain analyst service ViewBase went on to suggest that this major transfer must stem from a major holder. The single wallet from which it came had over 300,000 ETH before the transaction.
Additionally, it also got most of its ETH funds directly from Buterin years before this recent transfer. Consequently, some speculate that the owner of this wallet could be none other than Vitalik Buterin himself.
Nevertheless, this was not the only major ETH transfer to take place. Rather, Huobi also saw a massive transfer of 99,987 ETH to itself, while a transfer of 25,908 ETH was made to Binance. As such, the total market value of these three transfers amounts to roughly $25.5 million.
Buterin denies being behind the transfer
Commentators were, therefore, quick to suggest that this was a prelude to a major sell-off by Vitalik Buterin – or another key investor. These discussions were further fueled by the fact that Buterin kept out of the speculation.
With that said, such a sell-off would not be without precedent. Earlier in December, Buterin said that he has previously made a sale of 70,000 ETH back in 2018. This was when the altcoin was trading around its all-time high, and the proceeds of the sale were roughly worth $100 million.
However, Buterin then took to Twitter to announce that he has “no idea” which the relevant wallet is. Consequently, it would appear that the wallet transfer is the work of some Ethereum whale – if Buterin is truly without connection to the transfer.
Nonetheless, this news has still brought greater selling pressure on ETH. Most recently, TrustNodes’ Ethereum Name Service reportedly indicates that the seller is Jeffrey Wilcke, one of Ethereum’s co-founders.
It remains to be seen how this story continues to develop. However, fear is always undesirable in any market – and the uncertainty regarding this major transfer will likely not improve Ethereum’s bearish price performance.
Rasmus Pihl is a writer for Toshi Times by day and an avid follower of the blockchain industry by night. Rasmus holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the Gothenburg School of Business, Economics, and Law and runs a Swedish marketing consulting firm. Moreover, when he isn’t writing for Toshi Times, traveling, working or changing the world in some other capacity, Rasmus is more than likely caught up in postgraduate studies.
