Vitalik Buterin transfers $1 mln in ETH to Coinbase, triggering speculations

• The transfer of ETH by Buterin or the Ethereum Foundation is usually followed by a fall in ETH’s price.
• There is a possibility of Buterin going for a massive selloff.

Ethereum [ETH] co-founder Vitalik Buterin transferred 600 ETH worth $1 million to crypto exchange Coinbase [COIN] on 21 August.

On 20 August, Buterin had repaid 251,000 RAI and withdrew $1.6 million in ETH. RAI is an ETH-backed non-pegged stablecoin.

vitalik.eth repaid 251K $RAI on #Maker and withdrew 1,000 $ETH($1.67M) yesterday.

Then deposited 600 $ETH($1M) to #Coinbase 5 hrs ago.https://t.co/pw8ekIYSs1 pic.twitter.com/rkJo42OSlq

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 21, 2023

The move is surprising as the crypto market is witnessing a major slowdown again.  The prices of Bitcoin [BTC] and ETH declined by more than 10% over the last week. At press time, BTC was trading at a little above $25,900 and ETH was trading at a little above $1,650.

What the Ethereum transfer means amidst a bearish market…

The transfer of ETH tokens by Vitalik Buterin or the Ethereum Foundation is usually followed by a fall in ETH’s price. While we are yet to know the reason behind the recent transfer, there is a possibility of Buterin committing to another massive selloff. However, there is also the possibility of him making the transfer for a single-time sale only. Social media is rife with speculations.

Analysts and market experts now predict that Ethereum will tumble dramatically if its value falls below the key support level of $1,550-$1,600. The total market cap of the crypto industry fell more than 10% over the last seven days. At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $1.05 trillion.

As far as Coinbase is concerned, it was facing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. at the hands of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In early June, the regulator sued the exchange for allegedly violating securities law by acting as an unregistered broker-dealer.

Meanwhile, COIN’s value on Nasdaq fell nearly 9% over the last week. At press time, it was trading at $73.9.