Three prominent crypto whales have withdrawn over $150 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) from the popular crypto exchanges Binance and Kraken. The significant withdrawals were made from newly created wallets, as reported by blockchain tracker Lookonchain.
The withdrawals come amid a wave of regulatory scrutiny on the digital asset sector in the United States. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, two leading crypto exchanges, for alleged securities law violations.
This has raised concerns among traders and investors, who may be opting to self-custody their assets in order to protect them from government intervention.
One possible reason for the withdrawals is that the whales are concerned about the security of their assets on exchanges.
In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile hacks of crypto exchanges, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars worth of digital assets. By withdrawing their ETH from exchanges, these whales may be hoping to reduce the risk of their assets being stolen.
Another possibility is that the whales are simply looking to take advantage of the current market conditions. The price of ETH has been on a downward trend in recent months, and the whales may be hoping to buy back their ETH at a lower price in the future.
