Massive Ethereum Whale Moves Over $200 Million Off of Bitfinex, On-Chain Data Shows

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As a seasoned crypto investor with a sizable portfolio, I find the recent activity of Abraxas Capital Management quite intriguing. Moving over $200 million worth of Ethereum within a short time frame is not an insignificant move in this market. The decision to deposit these funds into Spark, a decentralized finance platform, suggests a strategic play aimed at leveraging the DeFi ecosystem.

Approximately $206 million in Ethereum (ETH) held by a significant cryptocurrency investor, presumably Abraxas Capital Management based in London, was transferred out of the Bitfinex exchange within a span of sixteen hours.

According to reports, investment manager Abraxas, who specializes in crypto and manages over $2 billion as of April 2024, transferred Ethereum (ETH) into Spark – a decentralized finance (DeFi) system – for the purpose of utilizing these funds as collateral to secure loans of DAI, a stablecoin that maintains its value against the US dollar.

Based on data from cryptanalysis firm Lookonchain, it is reported that the entity in question obtained a loan of 101 million DAI from the Spark protocol. Subsequently, they converted this amount into an equivalent 101 million USDC and moved these funds to Binance for deposit.

As a researcher, I delved deeper into the transactions originating from that specific address. Noteworthy activity included the borrowing of an impressive 101 million DAI from Spark. Subsequently, this amount was allegedly transformed into an equivalent sum of 101 million USDC via a stablecoin swap. This USDC was then transferred to the renowned Binance exchange for potential trading or further transactions.

A large whale, possibly representing Abraxas Capital, has transferred $60,000 worth of ETH (equivalent to approximately $206.3 million) from Bitfinex to Spark within the past 16 hours. Subsequently, they borrowed $101 million in DAI from Spark and converted it into an equivalent amount of USDC. This USDC was then deposited into Binance.— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 1, 2024

I work with Spark’s Decentralized Finance (DeFi) offerings, which encompass solutions such as SparkLend – a money market protocol – and sDAI, a yield-bearing alternative to DAI. However, it remains uncertain what the large investor, or “whale,” intends to do with their USDC tokens on Binance.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed a significant transfer of Ethereum (ETH) tokens lately, occurring during a time when the cryptocurrency has seen only modest gains. Currently, ETH is trading around $3,445, representing a nearly 3% increase over the past week but a nearly 9.5% decrease in value over the past month. Despite this recent downturn, Ethereum still falls short of its all-time high, which was reached at approximately $4,900 back in November 2021.

Significantly, there was a massive withdrawal of funds amounting to $61 million from Ethereum-centric investment vehicles during the last week, representing one of the largest outflows observed in the previous two years.

Based on available data, it appears that long-term Bitcoin holders have recently begun selling off their accumulated coins from the January bear market. This shift occurred following the listing of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US. In contrast, Ethereum’s long-term investors continue to amass holdings during this period.

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2024-07-02 16:13