The price of Ethereum’s native ETH token fell roughly 1.5% over the past day, apparently in response to a wallet associated with the Ethereum Foundation offloading a portion of its ETH holdings.
On-chain data shows the wallet with address “0x9eE457023bB3De16D51A003a247BaEaD7fce313D”, labeled as a Foundation “Grant Provider“, exchanged over 1,700 ETH worth $2.7 million for the USDC stablecoin on Monday.
Lack of Clarity on Sale Reasons
The Ethereum Foundation wallet originally held around $400,000 of ETH earlier Monday before the sudden sell-off.
With no clarity given on the motivations behind liquidating part of its ETH stash, traders reacted by selling and driving ETH down 1.8% over 24 hours. Other major cryptocurrencies were also pulled lower in sympathy.
While not a formal governing body, the Ethereum Foundation’s activities and holdings can influence market perception of ETH by developers and investors.
Previously Massive ETH Holdings
The Foundation’s ETH treasury amounted to over $1.29 billion in April 2022, accounting for more than 0.297% of total ETH supply at the time.
Outside of its Ethereum investments, the non-profit also held around $300 million in non-crypto assets then.
By liquidating ETH without transparency, the Foundation may have inadvertently spooked traders already on edge from a year of market turmoil.
While its intentions remain unclear, the incident exemplifies the outsized market influence of major ETH holders and the delicate trader psychology during ongoing crypto volatility.
