The Ethereum price could face some turbulence, as Justin Sun, the founder of Tron (TRX), has unstaked a whopping $209 million from Lido Finance, a liquid decentralized staking platform for Ethereum. Compared to top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE), the Ethereum price has had a relatively muted performance, skyrocketing to $4,000 before consolidating and struggling to move higher. With the possibility of more sell-offs, Ethereum could see its price crashing down if Sun decides to dump more coins. 

Justin Sun Dumps ETH

New reports from Spot On Chain, an AI-driven crypto platform, revealed that Sun recently applied to withdraw a staggering 52,905 ETH tokens worth about $209 million from Lido Finance. According to the on-chain data, this massive withdrawal was part of the ETH stash Sun allegedly accumulated between February and August 2024.

Spot On Chain has revealed that the total amount of Ethereum Sun bought within this period amounted to 392,474 ETH tokens, valued at $1.19 billion. All of these tokens were purchased via three wallet addresses at an average price of $3,027. Presently, the total profit the Tron founder has acquired since his purchase is up to $349 million, representing a 29% increase from its purchasing price. 

Interestingly, on October 24, Sun had unstaked a massive 80,251 ETH tokens, worth over $131 million, from Lido Finance. Four days later, he transferred the entire amount to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. This notable move took place just before the price of Ethereum had dropped sharply by 5% in mid-October, which could have resulted in a loss for Sun.

Unsurprisingly, this is not the first time Sun has dumped Ethereum. Spot On Chain revealed earlier this month that the Tron Founder had been cashing in his Ethereum holdings during the market rally. 

In November, Sun deposited 19,000 ETH worth $60.83 million to HTX, a crypto exchange. Additionally, he transferred 29,920 ETH valued at $119.7 million to HTX again after its price surpassed $4,000 over the past week. These are just a few transactions the Tron founder has made with ETH over the past month.

Given Sun’s history of large-scale asset movements, further sell-offs could impact the already fragile Ethereum market. Nevertheless, the lingering question remains whether the Tron founder will continue his Ethereum dumping spree.

Ethereum Price Crash Ahead?

While Sun has not publicly commented on his recent large-scale Ethereum withdrawals, the size and timing of these transactions could pose a problem for the altcoin’s future trajectory. Historically, large ETH liquidations have triggered a price crash due to increasing selling pressures.

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With the price of Ethereum still unstable and aiming for a stronger upward rally, further large-scale ETH dumps could exacerbate market volatility, especially if other investors or whales follow suit. For now, the price of Ethereum seems to be performing well, recording a more than 7% increase in the last seven days and a 28% surge over the past month, according to CoinMarketCap.

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

A crypto wallet associated with Justin Sun, the co-founder of Tron, a smart contract platform, has moved 20,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth roughly $32.4 million from Lido Finance, a liquidity staking platform. Funds were transferred to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, trading volume and client count.

The transaction, executed in a single batch, was captured by The Data Nerd, an analysis platform, and shared on X on October 5. As it is, Ethereum (ETH) is under pressure, looking at the performance in the daily chart. 

Ethereum Drops 4%, Are Bears Flowing Back?

Trackers show that the coin is down roughly 4% in three days, confirming sellers of October 2. Notably, the daily chart has a double bar formation with the bear candlestick of October 2, completely reversing buyers of October 1.

This arrangement suggests that bears could be in control, especially considering the draw-down of the past few trading days and the level of participation on October 2 when the coin slipped. 

In technical analysis, losses at the back of increasing volumes often point to high participation. If prices are rising, then the coin in question could rally. Conversely, a sell-off could worsen if the bar had high trading volumes.

It is also unclear whether Justin Sun plans to sell ETH after transferring coins to exchanges. Crypto transfers to centralized exchanges, which support many stablecoins like USDT and others, are often associated with sell-offs. 

Market participants may interpret such movements as bearish, fueling the sell-off, subsequently heaping more pressure on prices. ETH is now at a one-week low.

Justin Sun Shuffling ETH In 2023

The Data Nerd observes that prices fell the last time the wallet moved ETH to Huobi, which has since rebranded to HTX. In August, the wallet moved 5,000 ETH to HTX. The deposit came a week before ETH prices crashed 12%. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum prices fell sharply in mid-August, causing a “cascade liquidation” that spooked investors. ETH bulls have since failed to reverse those losses. Considering the relatively low trading volumes in the last two months, prices are still boxed within the August 17 trade range, a bearish signal.

In late February 2023, Justin Sun staked 150,000 ETH, worth roughly $240 million, to Lido Finance. The transfer remains the largest single-stay transaction, forcing the liquidity staking provider to activate the Staking Rate Limit feature, capping the amount of coins one can stake at 150,000 ETH. 

Lido Finance said the feature is more of a “safety valve” that “addresses possible side-effects such as rewards dilution, without needing to pause stake deposits explicitly.” 

Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView

Justin Sun, the co-founder of Tron, withdrew 30,000 ETH, worth roughly $56 million, via two addresses via Lido, a liquidity staking service provider, on July 10, Lookonchain reveals. Following his move, his Ethereum stake via Lido is down to 263,294 ETH, or $491.6 million at spot rates.

Justin Sun Unstakes From Ethereum

Lookonchain, a blockchain analytics platform, notes that between February 25 and 27, Sun staked 288,100 ETH, or $538 million, and earned 5,194 ETH, or $9 million. This translates to average daily earnings of 38 ETH, or $72,000, going by the annualized percentage yield (APY) of around 4.87% offered by Lido on Ethereum stakers.

The reasons behind Sun’s withdrawal of 30,000 ETH from Lido are unclear. It could indicate his intention to sell some of the ETH, transfer to a different staking platform, or even run his private Ethereum validator node.

Despite this transfer, Sun remains one of the largest stakers at Lido, accounting for over 9% of the total ETH staked. While Sun’s decision to unstaked and transfer coins may be a cause of concern, ETH prices are firm when writing on July 10 and edging closer to $1,900.

Contrary to fears ahead of the Shanghai upgrade in mid-April, the number of users staking ETH remains upward. Trackers show that over 21 million ETH has been locked by over 657,000 validators as of July 10. 

With the Shanghai upgrade implemented, ETH holders who had staked at least 32 ETH in the Beacon Chain from December 2020 can withdraw their assets. Despite earlier fears that more coins will be withdrawn and sold in the spot markets, impacting ETH prices, more validators and more coins have been locked on the Beacon Chain and other staking solutions. 

Will The SEC Dampen Coin Staking?

Lido, the leading staking provider for ETH, is the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol by total value locked (TVL), according to DeFiLlama. As of July 10, Lido managed over $14.6 billion of assets, most of which are ETH. 

Over $14.5 billion of ETH have been delegated and locked through Lido infrastructure. In Lido, users can stake ETH and other supported coins without needing lock-up periods or meeting high requirements, making it an attractive option for some investors.

In lawsuits filed against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase in early June, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that some proof-of-stake coins, including Cardano’s ADA and Algorand’s ALGO, were unregistered securities. 

Following this assessment, their prices tanked, even impacting ETH. This is partly because Ethereum is now a proof-of-stake network after transiting from a proof-of-work algorithm and uses the same consensus system as those employed by competing smart contract platforms accused of issuing unregistered securities. The situation is worsened by Gary Gensler’s failure to clarify whether ETH is a utility like Bitcoin. 

Cover image from Canvas, chart from Tradingview