Ethereum Foundation-Linked Wallets Move 4,393 ETH Worth $11.1M to Kraken

Published October 12, 2026, 13:45 PKT. Based on on-chain tracking by EmberCN and Lookonchain, and reporting by Crypto Briefing, BeInCrypto, FinanceFeeds, crypto.news and Particle.

Two wallets linked to an early Ethereum Foundation distribution moved 4,393 ETH, worth about $11.13 million, to the Kraken exchange on October 12, according to on-chain analysts EmberCN and Lookonchain. The transfer was flagged on X by EmberCN and independently reported by Lookonchain, then picked up by Crypto Briefing, TechFlow and BlockBeats. Neither the Ethereum Foundation nor Kraken has publicly commented on the move.

The wallets' 59,751 ETH lineage

The two sending addresses, identified by Crypto Briefing as 0x4c4...2b94 and 0x999...0229, trace their funds to a 2016 distribution: a Foundation wallet sent 59,751 ETH to a downstream address about a decade ago, when ether traded near $0.90, according to Lookonchain. EmberCN's tracking shows 49,751 ETH from that batch has reached Kraken over the past ten years, at an average historical price near $658, leaving about 10,000 ETH whose current location is not visible on-chain. Similar flows from Foundation-linked addresses were also caught in May and August 2026 and in late 2025, Crypto Briefing reported.

A deposit is not a sale

An exchange deposit puts coins where they can be sold, but it does not prove a sale took place, every reporting outlet stressed. The foundation's treasury policy, updated in June 2025, targets annual spending of 15% of the treasury with a reserve covering 2.5 years of operating costs, and says the foundation periodically calculates how much ETH, if any, to sell over the following three months, typically through fiat off-ramps or on-chain swaps, per BeInCrypto's summary. In April, the foundation announced a 5,000 ETH conversion routed through CoW Swap. Neither EmberCN's post nor Lookonchain's cited any foundation statement about the October 12 deposits.

ETH holds near $2,555 as ETF demand stays soft

The deposit landed while ether traded near $2,555, up about 2% on the day but down roughly 6.85% over seven days, according to crypto.news. Institutional demand has been soft: U.S. spot ether ETFs recorded about $542 million in weekly outflows, their worst week since January, extending a nine-session outflow streak. The $11.13 million transfer equals about 0.12% of ether's roughly $9 billion in daily trading volume, a small fraction next to total market activity.

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.

Sources

• EmberCN, primary source for the October 12 transfer timing, the 59,751 ETH lineage, the 49,751 ETH routed to Kraken over ten years, and the $658 average historical price
• Lookonchain, primary source confirming the same deposit, the 2016 price near $0.90 when the wallets received the funds, and the framing question of whether the foundation is selling
• Crypto Briefing, secondary source for the sending addresses 0x4c4...2b94 and 0x999...0229, the 10,000 ETH remainder, and the earlier May and August 2026 and late-2025 transfers
• BeInCrypto via CryptoRank and TradingView, secondary source for the foundation's June 2025 treasury policy, the periodic three-month sale calculation, and the April 5,000 ETH CoW Swap conversion
• FinanceFeeds, secondary source for the $2,534 per-ETH valuation and the note that the wallets are several transactions removed from the foundation's original distribution
• crypto.news, secondary source for the ETH price context near $2,555, the 2% daily gain and the 6.85% seven-day decline