An Ethereum address associated with the network’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, transferred 600 ETH to crypto reading platform Coinbase, worth roughly $1 million at writing time.
The transfer comes after crypto markets tanked last week, bringing ETH down to $1670 for the first time since June.
According to public blockchain data available on Etherscan, the wallet address behind the transfer – Vitalik. eth – now holds a balance of 3,933 ETH, worth $6.58 million right now. It also holds over $500,000 worth of other tokens, including $300,000 worth of DeFi protocol KyberNetowrk (KNC) tokens.
Onchain analysts at PeckShield flagged Vitalik’s transfer on Monday, which first went to a multichain address before being resent to another address that Etherscan marked as belonging to Coinbase. Days earlier, he had sent 0.1 ETH to the same address as a test transfer.
Analysts at Lookonchain noted that Vitalik withdrew 1000 ETH ($1.67 million) from MakerProtocol yesterday, after repaying $257,000 in RAI.
Vitalik never clarified what the transfer was about, but inflows to exchanges are generally viewed as a sign that investors intend to sell their coins for fiat or other cryptos. Vitalik has admitted to selling his ETH on multiple occasions, alongside random memecoins that he’s received from donors without asking.
Analysts from Nansen told CoinTelegraph that Vitalik’s exchange of choice was out of the ordinary.
“Based on the wallet’s history, ETH transfers in the past have typically been to Kraken,” the analysts said. “However, it’s hard to say what’s the purpose of the transfer so we aren’t able to offer much more insight.”
Some Twitter users suspected that Vitalik might be bridging his holdings to Coinbase’s layer 2 blockchain Base, to use the network’s newly popular social media dapp, Friend.Tech.
The platform lets users sell shares of certain Twitter accounts and social profiles. Over the past 24 hours, its already generated $1.42 million in fees – more than the popular DEX Uniswap.
Some industry members have expressed skepticism of the app, cautioning that it may be a “pump and dump” that dies within weeks.