An enormous cryptocurrency whale with deep ties to the mining sector has executed a headline-grabbing withdrawal from the world's largest exchange.
According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, a wallet linked to Chun Wang, the co-founder of the major Bitcoin mining pool F2Pool, recently withdrew 9,000 ETH from Binance.
The transfer, which was valued at approximately $17.86 million, caught the attention of on-chain researchers due to the sheer size.
The F2Pool-linked wallet immediately deposited the entire 9,000 ETH sum into Aave, a leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocol.
The whale is putting the capital to work to earn a passive yield instead of letting the asset sit idle.
The widely tracked wallet now commands an eye-popping balance of 79,818 ETH.
This brings the entity's total Ethereum holdings to roughly $158.72 million.
On-chain data reveals that several major whales are currently accumulating and moving substantial amounts of Ethereum off centralized exchanges.
Recently, another accumulation event involving an unidentified whale was identified by on-chain sleuths. Over a tight two-hour window, this entity withdrew 9,976 ETH (worth roughly $19.8 million ) from Binance. The massive transaction was split across three separate wallets to obscure the footprint.
Meanwhile, institutional heavyweight BlackRock recently deposited 68,568 ETH ($139.9 million) and 612 BTC ($41.4 million) to Coinbase Prime.
Simultaneously, early adopters are seemingly jumping ship. An original Ethereum initial coin offering (ICO) participant recently capitalized on the current price range, selling off 11,552 ETH for $23.42 million.
This early investor famously bought 38,800 ETH at just $0.31 during the ICO, turning a meager $12,000 investment into a nearly $80 million fortune today.