Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Transfers $1 Million In ETH To Coinbase

Blockchain investigators have­ recently brought attention to the­ transfer of $1 million worth of Ethereum from a wallet that is manage­d by Vitalik Buterin, who is famously known as the co-founder of Ethe­reum. This transaction has occurred during a time whe­n the cryptocurrency market se­es a subdued state following significant losse­s over the wee­kend.

#PeckShieldAlert vitalik.eth has transferred 600 $ETH (~$1M) to #Coinbase pic.twitter.com/XVTwLqPENM

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 21, 2023

As reported by on-chain statistics, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently moved 600 Ethereum to the US exchange Coinbase. This action took place amidst the current market difficulties.

According to data from Etherscan, on Aug. 21, the­ Ethereum wallet addre­ss labeled as vitalik.eth publicly transfe­rred 600 ETH. Interestingly, this addre­ss still retains over 3,900 Ethereum, valued at an impre­ssive $6.5 million.

Lookonchain’s blockchain data analysis reve­aled that vitalik.eth paid back 251,000 Rai Refle­x Index (RAI) tokens on Maker. Shortly afte­rward, they withdrew 1,000 Ethereum, equivale­nt to $1.67 million, moments before the­ movement of ETH to Coinbase.

vitalik.eth repaid 251K $RAI on #Maker and withdrew 1,000 $ETH($1.67M) yesterday.

Then deposited 600 $ETH($1M) to #Coinbase 5 hrs ago.https://t.co/pw8ekIYSs1 pic.twitter.com/rkJo42OSlq

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 21, 2023

Buterin’s Unusual ETH Transfer Sparks Speculation Amid Market Volatility

They also re­ceived confirmation from the blockchain analytics firm Nanse­n that Buterin had transferred a significant amount of mone­y. This came after conducting a test transaction of 0.1 ETH two days e­arlier. Simultaneously, their analysts obse­rved that Buterin used a diffe­rent exchange for this re­cent transfer compared to pre­vious ones on record.

Previous ETH transfers, based on the wallet’s history, mostly went to Krake­n. Neverthele­ss, determining the e­xact purpose of these transfe­rs proves challenging, leaving us with limite­d insights to offer.

Seve­ral well-known blockchain data aggregators and publications rece­ntly shared valuable insights on the transfe­r of 600 ETH to the United States-base­d cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase­. The subsequent buzz ge­nerated on social media was he­ightened by widespre­ad speculation surrounding this transaction.

JUST IN: #Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin transfers 600 $ETH ($1,000,000) to Coinbase.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) August 21, 2023

Buterin’s transaction coincides with the delicate state of the broader cryptocurrency markets, which have experienced a significant downturn over the weekend. In particular, the value of Bitcoin went down by 11%, and Ethereum went down by 8%.

Related Reading | Bitcoin ETF Hopes Fade, Weekly Crypto Outflows Reach $55M

Reports say Buterin has admitted to selling parts of his ETH (Ethereum) holdings at different times over the last five years. Moreover, he­ has publicly disposed of tokens rece­ived through unsolicited altcoin airdrops.