Foundation's Phantom Wallet: $11.13M ETH Lands at Kraken's Doorstep 👻

Two wallets linked to the Ethereum Foundation deposited a combined 4,393 ETH, worth approximately $11.13 million, into cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, according to an October 12 post by on-chain monitoring platform Lookonchain on X. The transactions revived scrutiny over the Foundation's recent movement of Ether to centralized venues.

On-chain history shows the two wallets first received 59,751 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation roughly 10 years ago, when Ether traded at approximately $0.90. Lookonchain noted that 49,751 ETH from that original allocation had reached Kraken over the past decade, with the average estimated market price at the time of those deposits around $658. The remaining 10,000 ETH from the original transfer had not reached Kraken as of the post.

The latest deposits follow earlier significant movements from Foundation-linked addresses. In May, on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence showed that the Ethereum Foundation withdrew 21,271 ETH, valued at nearly $49.66 million, in a separate transaction that drew attention from market observers.

Ether was trading at $2,560 at the time of reporting, up 2.3% over the past 24 hours, according to market data cited in coverage of the transfers. Lookonchain framed its post by asking whether the Ethereum Foundation was "dumping $ETH again," reflecting the recurring pattern of Foundation-linked wallets sending Ether to Kraken over multi-year periods.

The Ethereum Foundation has periodically transferred Ether from its reserves to fund operations, grants, and ecosystem development, and the wallets identified by Lookonchain have been the subject of repeated monitoring as a result. The Foundation has not issued a public statement on the specific October deposits, and the most recent on-chain data confirms only the wallet-to-exchange transfer and historical allocation figures.