One of the Ethereum co-founders, Vitalik Buterin, has taken a step that is creating some controversy among the stakeholders. As per the data projections shared by PeckShield, Buterin has sent 200 Ethereum from his wallet to a centralized cryptocurrency exchange based in the USA named Kraken.
This move has come at the same time when a new upgrade Shapella is about to launch on the mainnet of the Ethereum blockchain.
PeckShield is a crypto security firm that has verified these transactions. At the current price, the 200 ETH amount is worth $323K. The data initially reported that the 200 ETH were sent from the wallet under the possession of Buterin to an unknown address.
However, later the wallet was revealed to hail from Kraken exchange. PeckShield has noted that the circulating ETH was eventually rerouted to the Kraken exchange wallet, where it can be sold to other investors.
As of late, Ethereum co-founder Buterin has been busy with several on-chain transactions that have sparked speculation among investors. Earlier this month, he sent 500 ETH to a stablecoin-centric DeFi protocol called Reflexer.
The on-chain data issued by PeckShield reveals that he has used the 500 ETH as collateral to obtain a hefty loan of 378 500 USDC stablecoin in addition to 50K DAI tokens.
At present, the core developers of Ethereum are working on testing the latest upgrade on the network. With the introduction of this upgrade named Shapella, the validators will be able to withdraw their staked Ethereum coins on the network.
There are some speculations among Ethereum investors that this upgrade might lead to price depreciation for Ethereum. Some investors have characterized the recent sales of ETH by Buterin as dumping.
Vitalik Buterin to Discard All his Meme Cryptocurrency Reserves
Another interesting change in the wallet of Buterin has been noted by Lookonchain analytics. The firm has reported that Buterin has been getting rid of his meme currency reserves, which are increasing rapidly.
According to this account, he has discarded $693K worth of Cult DAO, Shikoku, and Mops. It is worth mentioning that these currencies were gifted rather than purchased or swapped.
However, as per the crypto trackers, Buterin has a history of discarding massive amounts of cryptocurrencies at irregular intervals. This is considered a normal change since many of the currencies in his wallet are sent as gifts by the smaller cryptocurrency projects that are just starting and looking for clout.
Regardless of these changes, ETH stakeholders are worried about the changes that are going to take place in ETH prices on account of the Shapella upgrade.