Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Jeffrey Wilcke transferred 20,000 ETH, the equivalent of over $72 million, to Kraken on November 28.
His wallet still contains 106,006 ETH.
CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn noted that this was the fourth time Wilcke transferred ETH to Kraken this year, surpassing $147 million. He first transferred 4,300 ETH to the exchange on February 10, worth $10.6 million.
Wilcke transferred 10,000 ETH to Kraken four days later, worth $27.2 million. His third deposit of 10,000 ETH, equivalent to $37 million, took place on May 22.
Community control
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) and Ethereum co-founders have faced intense community scrutiny this year.
On August 23, EF transferred 35,000 ETH to Kraken, which raised concerns of the community given the high value of the transaction – worth $94 million at the time of the transfer.
EF contributor Josh Spark and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin clarified the reason for the transfer, explaining that it was to favor institutions that strengthen the Ethereum ecosystem.
According to on-chain data platform Arkham, addresses linked to EF saw nearly 45,000 ETH in negative net flows in 2024.
A week later, Buterin I had to explain an ETH deposit worth $10 million, claiming he had never made any personal profits since 2018. He added:
“All sales have been intended to support various projects that I consider valuable, either within the Ethereum ecosystem or within broader charities (e.g. biomedical R&D).”
As of November 28, Buterin-related wallets recorded a negative net flow of 6,000 ETH since the start of the year.
ETH investors are particularly worried about these transfers, given the crypto’s underperformance this year compared to Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL).
According to data of Artemis, Bitcoin and Solana have seen annual returns of nearly 116% in 2024, while ETH is up 51.5% so far, well below the average crypto market return of 109%.
