According to tracker Lookonchain, last weekend, a crypto whale withdrew over $20.6 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) from the Bitfinex exchange within 16 hours.
It is believed that the address belongs to Abraxas Capital Management, a UK-based investment firm that has specialized in cryptocurrency operations since 2017.
As of February 2024, Abraxas Capital Management manages over $1 billion in digital assets across three funds. Reportedly, the company transferred the withdrawn ETH to the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Spark, using it as collateral for the stablecoin DAI.
As a result, the address borrowed 10.1 billion DAI from Spark. This DAI was then converted into 10.1 billion USDC and deposited into Binance.
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Spark offers various DeFi services, including SparkLend (focused on DAI money market protocols) and sDAI (a passive income stablecoin).
During the transaction, the price of Ethereum was $3,442. Despite rising nearly 3% in the past week, ETH has dropped nearly 10% over the past month and remains more than 25% below its all-time high of $4,878 set in November 2021.
This significant movement of Ethereum tokens highlights the important role of large investment management firms in the cryptocurrency space. Such transactions using DeFi platforms like Spark underscore the growing convergence of traditional financial strategies with decentralized financial solutions. This development reflects the broader trend of mature financial institutions increasingly adopting and utilizing DeFi and cryptocurrencies, signaling potential further advancements in the digital asset ecosystem.
