 
 
Ethereum founder and original developer Jeffrey Wilke transferred 79,358 ETH, worth about $158.31 million, to American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken on Saturday, according to blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens.
Ether briefly rose above $2,179 on Wednesday, but bearish pressure kept the price below $2,000 by press time.
Wilke joined the Ethereum team in late 2013 and became known for developing Geth, the most widely used client for managing Ethereum nodes. As one of the early founders of Ethereum, Wilcke is estimated to have received an initial distribution of around 463,000 ETH.
After the latest transfer, the popular Wilke wallet now has about 16,037 ETH, worth about $32 million. After stepping back from active Ethereum development in 2019 to focus on his gaming venture, Grid Games, he has periodically sold off portions of his ETH stash. As a result, the latest transaction was not surprising.
According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $1,936, representing a 2.1% decline over the past week. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency remains about 60.9% below its high of around $4,946 recorded in August last year.
 
Crypto fundamentals like Ethereum have historically been sensitive to the actions of visible holders. When high numbers move a large number of ticks, the market often reacts more strongly than when trading unknown ticks.
It is worth noting that Wilcke is not the only Ethereum founder to reduce his stake in early 2026. Vitalik Buterin, another co-founder of Ethereum, is also actively liquidating parts of his own ETH reserves.
In January 2026, Buterin revealed that he had allocated 16,384 ETH, worth $45 million, to support the development of privacy-focused technologies, open hardware and secure software systems. He said he will personally oversee the initiative as the Ethereum Foundation enters a phase of “mild savings” as it continues to pursue its technical roadmap. According to Buterin, the funds will be distributed gradually in the coming years.
At the end of last month, Buterin already liquidated about 19,326 ETH, worth about $39.36 million, as the price of ETH continued to fall.
