Ethereum Co-founder Transfers $158 Million in ETH, Market Eyes Price Drop Below $2,000

Recently, the on-chain activity of Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has drawn market attention. Blockchain monitoring data shows that a wallet under his name transferred tens of thousands of ETH to the Kraken exchange, with a single transaction worth approximately $158 million. After the transaction, the wallet had approximately 16,037 ETH remaining, valued at around $31.66 million at the current market price.

Since stepping down from Ethereum core development in 2019, Buterin has focused on other projects, but his large holdings of ETH from the early days have always been a key focus of market observation. Over the past few years, he has repeatedly transferred ETH to centralized exchanges in batches, with a cumulative transfer value exceeding $500 million. Among them, a large transfer in May 2025 reached 105,736 ETH, worth approximately $262 million at the time, becoming a landmark event for the market.

It is worth noting that Buterin is not the only one exhibiting selling behavior recently. In early 2026, other core Ethereum contributors also successively made large asset transfers. On-chain records show that, from February to March 2026, key figures cumulatively sold over 19,300 ETH, worth approximately $40 million. Under the influence of multiple selling signals, the price of Ethereum has continued to be under pressure, and the current trading price has fallen below the key psychological level of $2,000. Although such on-chain operations may not directly reflect the founder's judgment on the market outlook, their scale and frequency are still widely regarded as a short-term sentiment barometer, influencing traders' decision-making pace.