dailyhodl.com
Ethereum ($ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin is catching the attention of crypto sleuths after moving 500 $ETH to an under-the-radar decentralized finance (DeFi) project.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield first spotted the transaction and revealed that a wallet controlled by Buterin transferred the $ETH stack to DeFi protocol Reflexer.
Reflexer is a platform designed to enable users to mint stablecoins by using their crypto as collateral.
The protocol issues RAI, a crypto asset backed by Ethereum that aims to maintain a stable value in order to protect holders from the volatility of the markets.
According to PeckShield, Buterin used the 500 $ETH to accumulate stablecoins.
The blockchain security firm shows that the Ethereum founder used the $ETH trove as collateral on Reflexer to mint 150,000 RAI tokens. Buterin subsquently exchanged 132,500 RAI for 378,500 USD Coin ($USDC). The remaining 17,500 RAI was swapped for 50,000 Dai ($DAI).
PeckShield says that the conversion of $ETH to stablecoins $USDC and $DAI all took place within three hours.
#PeckShieldAlert Vitalik-labeled address has deposited 500 $ETH in Reflexer to mint 150k $RAI, and swapped 132.5k $RAI for 378.5k $USDC. Additionally, they swapped 17.5k $RAI for 50k $DAI within the last 3 hourshttps://t.co/dM1pheTW0x pic.twitter.com/camCgl1fsk
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 11, 2023
Blockchain-tracking service Etherscan also witnessed the transactions. According to Etherscan, Buterin initially transferred 200 $ETH to Reflexer to mint 100,0000 RAI. Immediately after, Buterin sent 300 $ETH to Reflexer to mint 50,000 RAI.
Etherscan reveals that Buterin paid more than $200 to process both transactions.
At time of writing, Ethereum is trading for $1,596, up over 10% in the last 24 hours.