Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) co-founder, Vitalik Buterin moved a substantial amount of ETH tokens to a cryptocurrency exchange, leading to speculations in the community about the intention of the transfer.

What Happened: According to on-chain tracking platform, Spot On Chain, Buterin deposited 200 ETH, worth roughly $530,000 to Kraken Wednesday. This transfer marked his first ETH deposit to a centralized cryptocurrency trading platform this year.

In addition to this, Buterin has reportedly transferred 3,200 ETH, valued at around $8.32 million, to two new multisignature wallets, likely intended for donations, according to a post on X by Spot On Chain.

Generally, market participants get jittery when influential investors or whales transfer a portion of their holdings to exchanges, likely due to the dominant belief that assets are likely to be sold off.

However, there was nothing to suggest that Buterin was about to dump ETH, and the real motive of the transfer remains unknown as of this writing.

See Also: EXCLUSIVE: Bitcoin Down To $59,200, But July CPI Report Is ‘Bullish For Bitcoin,’ Will Stabilize Crypto Market, Experts Tell Benzinga

Why It Matters: As of the latest available data from Arkham Intelligence, Buterin owns 241,622 ETH, worth $16,53 million.

His mysterious deposit comes amid a time when investors were already spooked by the movement of half a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) by the U.S. government, causing major cryptocurrencies to slide.

Price Action: At the time of writing, Ether traded at $2,655.46, falling 2.29% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. 

Photo by Alexey Smyshlyaev on Shutterstock.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.