‘No special deals’: LayerZero CEO denies ties to whale with 2.6% of ZRO

An unknown entity or individual has been secretly stockpiling LayerZero’s ZRO token. At the time of writing, the said whale has acquired $47.5 million of ZRO, about 24.5 million tokens, a whopping 2.6% of the circulating supply. 

According to the crypto analytics platform Nansen, the accumulation spree has been occurring across 9 wallets, funded by a single source: Coinbase Prime. The firm further highlighted. 

Start of March, accumulation begins quietly on Coinbase. The accumulation started exactly 3 weeks after the Zero chain announcement.

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Given the coincidence of the chain announcement and the whale-level investment, some market watchers speculated that the investor could be part of LayerZero’s inner circle. 

LayerZero denies knowing the mysterious buyer

However, LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino clarified that he did not know the investor. 

We’ve told every fund and institution we’ve spoken to our preference is they just buy ZRO directly on the open market, vs purchasing from labs or foundation. No special deals, no discounts.

The Zero chain is set to go live in the fall of 2026, and the project attracted major financial backers, including Citadel Securities, Tether, Ark Invest, and Google. To some, this could be a positioning for institutional trading of tokenized markets. 

But it remains unclear whether the mysterious whale buyer was planning to sell the tokens when the chain goes live. 

ZRO hits a sell wall

That said, ZRO was up 60% from the range low of $1.49 and had hit $2.5, a key resistance zone since H2 2025. The recent recovery attempts in January and February were rejected at the roadblock (red). 

If the trend repeats, late buyers could wait for another buying opportunity at $1.5. However, flipping $2.5 into support could fuel the rally to $3.3. 

However, over 34 million ZRO was acquired at the resistance zone, which could tip some investors who have broken even to close their positions. If so, this could add pressure and reinforce the area as a key roadblock. 

Still, at the time of writing, selling pressure from holders was not yet evident.

According to the 14-day average Holder Net Position Change, investors were still holding and adding to their stash, as shown by green bars. 

However, should the metric turn red, it would suggest holders have begun offloading. Such a move could further reinforce $2.5 as a key obstacle for bulls to overcome to extend the rally. 

Final Summary 

• A mysterious whale has acquired 2.6% of the overall ZRO circulating supply, but LayerZero denied any affiliation with the investor. 
• The $2.5 level has been a roadblock since 2025 and could derail ZRO recovery if there is no near-term catalyst.