In a move that has intrigued the cryptocurrency community, a staggering 7,000 Ethereum (ETH) has been transferred to Robinhood, the popular stock brokerage app, just as Ethereum’s value soared past the $3,000 mark.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has steadily risen since recovering from a low of $2,862 on May 15. The rise continued, with Ethereum’s price surpassing the psychological barrier of $3,000.
At the time of writing, ETH was up 3.14% in the last 24 hours to $3,131, having previously reached intraday highs of $3,148.
Crypto data tracker Whale Alert reports that 7,000 ETH worth $21,630,557 was transferred from an unknown wallet to Robinhood. This substantial transfer has led to speculations about the motivations and potential impact on the market.
🚨 7,000 #ETH (21,630,557 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Robinhoodhttps://t.co/FSL5ryWunY
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 17, 2024
The transfer could be a precursor to a larger market play, with investors positioning themselves as the Ethereum ETF decision approaches.
Another theory is that a whale or large holder might be leveraging Robinhood’s platform for trading or custodial purposes, given that one of the reasons tokens are moved to exchanges is to sell them. A plausible explanation could be that the transfer is meant to bolster liquidity on Robinhood’s platform. Despite all of this, the exact reason for the move remains unknown.
Ethereum ETF decision looms
Following months of silence, the U.S. SEC is expected to decide on at least one application for an ETF that invests directly in Ethereum by next week. After delayed judgments on fund applications for several months, the SEC has a May 23 deadline to approve or deny VanEck’s application.
According to Bloomberg, who cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter, some fund companies fear a rejection because their private conversations with the SEC have not been as robust as they were before the approval of spot-Bitcoin ETFs in January.
A denial may eventually lead to a lawsuit. Grayscale Investments’ August court victory in its fight against the SEC set the stage for the January approval of spot Bitcoin funds.