Ethereum co-founder and core developer, Jeffrey Wilcke, reportedly transferred 79,358 ETH— worth about $158.31 million— to the U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken on Saturday, according to data from blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens.
Ether briefly climbed above the $2,179 mark on Wednesday, but bearish pressure pushed the price back below $2,000 by the time of publication.
Wilcke joined the Ethereum team in late 2013 and became well known for developing Geth, the most widely used client for operating Ethereum nodes. As one of Ethereum’s early co-founders, Wilcke is estimated to have received an initial allocation of about 463,000 ETH.
Following the latest transfer, Wilcke’s known wallet now holds about 16,037 ETH, valued at roughly $32 million. Since stepping back from active Ethereum development in 2019 to concentrate on his gaming venture, Grid Games, he has periodically sold portions of his ETH stash. As a result, the recent transaction has not come as a major surprise.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $1,936, marking a 2.1% decline over the past week, according to CoinGecko data. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency remains about 60.9% below its all-time high of roughly $4,946 recorded last August.
Crypto majors such as Ethereum have historically been sensitive to the actions of prominent holders. When high-profile figures move massive amounts of tokens, the market often reacts more strongly than it does to transactions from anonymous whales.
Notably, Wilcke is not the only Ethereum co-founder reducing his holdings in early 2026. Vitalik Buterin, another co-founder of Ethereum, has also been actively liquidating portions of his personal ETH reserves.
In January 2026, Buterin revealed that he had earmarked 16,384 ETH, worth $45 million at the time, to support the development of privacy-focused technologies, open hardware, and secure software systems. He said he would personally oversee the initiative as the Ethereum Foundation entered a phase of “mild austerity” while continuing to pursue its technical roadmap. According to Buterin, the funds will be distributed gradually over the coming years.
By late last month, Buterin had already liquidated approximately 19,326 ETH, valued at roughly $39.36 million, as the price of ETH continued to fall.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/ethereum-co-founder-dumps-158-million-eth-to-kraken-sparking-fresh-market-jitters/
