Vitalik Buterin Transferred 700 ETH to Two Different Addresses and is Buying USDC

Ethereum’s Co-Founder – Vitalik Buterin – recently sent 200 ETH (approximately $350,000 at current valuations) to an address belonging to the crypto exchange Kraken and 500 ETH (over $875,000) to the DeFi protocol Reflexer. He deposited the 500 ETH to mint 150,000 RAI tokens, exchanging most for USDC. 

The stablecoin passed through some turbulence lately, depegging from its target after Circle revealed a whopping $3.3 billion exposure to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The peg has since been restored.

Buterin’s Recent Move

As revealed by the analytics platform – Etherscan – Buterin transferred 200 ETH to a wallet that belongs to Kraken. As of the moment of writing these lines, it remains unclear why he conducted that transaction. 

On the other hand, it seems like he sent the 500 ETH to accumulate stablecoins. The blockchain security company – PeckShield – outlined that the computer programmer used the Ether stash as collateral on Reflexer to mint 150,000 RAI tokens. He later swapped 132,500 RAI for 378,500 USDC and 17,500 RAI for 50,000 DAI. 

#PeckShieldAlert Vitalik-labeled address has deposited 500 $ETH in Reflexer to mint 150k $RAI, and swapped 132.5k $RAI for 378.5k $USDC. Additionally, they swapped 17.5k $RAI for 50k $DAI within the last 3 hourshttps://t.co/dM1pheTW0x pic.twitter.com/camCgl1fsk

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 11, 2023

Initially, Buterin transferred 200 ETH to the DeFi protocol and then dispatched the remaining amount. Data from Etherscan reveals that he paid over $200 to settle the transactions. 

USDC’s Rollercoaster 

The second-largest stablecoin has been in the spotlight recently after briefly falling to as low as $0.87 (CoinGecko data) at the end of last week. Back then, Circle – the company that issues the asset – disclosed a massive $3.3 billion exposure to the failed Silicon Valley Bank. Despite the problems, the Boston-based firm assured it continues the normal course of its operations:

“… Circle, as required by law and under stored-value money transmission regulation, will stand behind USDC and cover any shortfall using corporate resources, involving external capital if necessary.”

USDC’s valuation stabilized in the following days and is currently hovering around $1 (exactly what its price target should be).

As of the moment, the stablecoin has a market capitalization of nearly $40 billion, making it the fifth-largest digital currency.

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