Ethereum Co-Founder Jeffrey Wilcke Dumps $262M ETH on Kraken—Panic or Profit-Taking?

Ethereum’s quiet co-founder just made a thunderous move—shipping a staggering $262 million worth of ETH to Kraken. The crypto world’s buzzing: Is this a bearish signal or just another whale cashing out at the top?

Timing is everything. With ETH hovering near all-time highs, Wilcke’s transfer smells like classic ’buy low, sell high’—or a calculated exit before regulators finally notice the elephant in the room. After all, nothing says ’trust the system’ like a nine-figure withdrawal to a centralized exchange.

Market watchers are split. Some see a red flag—founder exits often precede price dips. Others shrug—early investors have earned the right to monetize their genius. One thing’s certain: When a blockchain god moves this much ether, the mortals below start sweating.

The MOVE happened quietly without any significant effect on Ethereum’s price at the time. Typically, such large transfers are seen as signals that the owner might sell, but that hasn’t been confirmed in this case.

However, the transfer is opening up speculation that it may have been for moving funds rather than selling them outright. As Lookonchain put it, “It is possible that Jeffrey Wilcke did not intend to sell ETH, but just transferred them to other wallets.”

According to data from Arkham, Wilcke now knows about $723,000 in assets, with 268.7 ETH remaining, which is down significantly from the 2021 bull run when his holdings were valued at over $800 million. About six months ago, he made a similar transaction worth $72 million worth in ETH to the same exchange. As of now, no clear sale has been recorded, and the market has remained stable. 

Whilst, ETH price has been hovering between $2,332, and $2,742 since May 11, due to the resistance level at $2,800 that has stopped it from crossing. Meanwhile, the price recently broke out of a resistance-turned-support zone at $2,150 with a massive push to the upside. Now the price is consolidated between these zones. If it manages to cross, it could start a new rally up to $4,000 which serves as the closest swing high in the current bull run.

Also Read: ethereum Frenzy: Abraxas Capital Bagged $837M of ETH in 14 Days