Ethereum Co-Founder Transfers 79,000 ETH to Kraken

Ethereum co-founder Jeffrey Wilcke transferred approximately 79,000 ETH, valued at around $157 million, to the Kraken exchange on March 7, 2026, sparking concerns over potential selling pressure amid the cryptocurrency's ongoing price decline.

The transaction involved four wallet addresses that had remained dormant for about seven months, according to on-chain analytics from firms like Lookonchain and SpotOnChain. Data shows these wallets previously withdrew the same amount of ETH from Kraken roughly 10 months earlier, when prices hovered near $2,600. This round-trip pattern suggests the tokens were held in custodial storage before being returned to the exchange, likely for liquidation. Wilcke, who joined the Ethereum team in late 2013 and developed Geth, the most widely used client for running Ethereum nodes, stepped back from core development around 2018 to focus on gaming projects through Grid Games. He received an estimated 463,000 ETH allocation as an early co-founder and still holds about 27,000 ETH on-chain, worth roughly $53 million.

The move adds to a series of insider sales that have heightened market unease. In February 2026, fellow co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold...