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An Ethereum developer rejected speculation that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) was behind a recent deposit of more than 30,000 Ether into the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Sky, formerly known as MakerDAO.

On March 10, a wallet address deposited 30,098 Ether (ETH), worth about $56 million, into Sky. Crypto intelligence platform Arkham labeled the address “Ethereum Foundation?,” raising speculation that the EF may have moved funds into the lending protocol — a strategy recommended by the community — instead of directly selling ETH to fund its operations. 

However, community members quickly dismissed the claims, clarifying that the wallet in question does not belong to the Ethereum Foundation. Eric Conner, the co-author of Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-1559), called a Wu Blockchain report “completely fake,” implying that the address doesn’t belong to the EF. 

Anthony Sassano, host of The Daily Gwei, also cited the report, saying that the wallet does not belong to the EF. 

Ethereum wallet likely from an early investor

Wu Blockchain later clarified that while the account was suspected of belonging to the Ethereum Foundation, transaction history suggested it was more likely associated with an early Ethereum investor.

The address received a 4 million Dai (DAI) transfer from the EF ETH Sale in May 2022, and initial ETH funding was traced back to a wallet called jonny.eth. 

The address deposited the $56 million into the Sky vault to avoid liquidation as ETH prices tumbled. On March 10, ETH dropped from a high of $2,138 to $1,813, a 15% decline.

The move allowed the wallet to avoid liquidation, lowering its liquidation price to $1,127.14, 40.19% below ETH’s price of $1,896 at the time of writing.

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Ethereum Foundation deployed $120 million into DeFi protocols

While the recent deposit into Sky was not linked to the Ethereum Foundation, the EF has faced criticism in the past for selling ETH for stablecoins to fund team salaries and operations. In January, community members suggested that the foundation could instead borrow stablecoins against its ETH holdings rather than sell the assets.

At the time, Sassano said that instead of swapping ETH for stablecoins, the foundation should consider using Aave to borrow stablecoins against ETH. Sky allows users to do something similar. By depositing ETH, users can borrow DAI. 

On Feb. 13, the EF listened to the community and deployed 45,000 ETH, about $120 million at the time, to DeFi protocols Aave, Spark and Compound.

Community members celebrated the move, with Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov saying, “DeFi will win.” The EF also said there’s “more to come,” suggesting this is not their last foray into DeFi. 

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Defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox moved almost a billion worth of Bitcoin, the second large BTC transfer in a week, as Bitcoin’s price fell to a four-month low on March 11.

Of the 11,833 Bitcoin (BTC) moved, 11,501 ($905.1 million) were sent into a new wallet, while the remaining 332 Bitcoin ($26.1 million) were transferred to a warm wallet, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, citing Arkham Intelligence data.

The transfer cost Mt. Gox just $2.13.

It comes less than a week after Mt. Gox moved 12,000 Bitcoin worth a little over $1 billion on March 6. Arkham noted that $15 million of those funds were sent to BitGo — one of the custodians facilitating Mt. Gox’s creditor repayments.

Blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain said the 332 Bitcoin that recently went into the warm wallet may also be moved to assist with the repayments.

The movement coincided with a 2.4% price fall for Bitcoin to $76,784 over 30 minutes, CoinGecko data shows, retreating to November prices when the market was rallying on the back of US President Donald Trump’s election win.

While Bitcoin recovered from the slump to $79,275 soon after, Maelstrom chief investment officer Arthur Hayes advised investors to “be fucking patient” in a March 11 X post in which he predicted Bitcoin would bottom around the $70,000 mark.

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Mt. Gox’s main wallets now only hold 24,411 Bitcoin — worth $1.94 billion — after it started offloading around $9.2 billion worth of Bitcoin in June 2024, Spot On Chain data shows.

Last October, the defunct crypto exchange extended its deadline to fully repay its creditors, saying it would do so by Oct. 31, 2025.

Mt. Gox was the largest Bitcoin exchange between 2010 and 2014 — handling around 70-80% of Bitcoin trades before it collapsed from a hack that saw up to 850,000 Bitcoin stolen from the Tokyo-based platform.

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A California financial regulator says users reported seven new types of crypto and AI scams that it hadn’t seen before through thousands of complaints in 2024. 

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) said in a March 10 statement that it received 2,668 complaints in 2024 and found seven types of scams they didn’t have on record yet, such as fake Bitcoin (BTC) mining schemes, where fraudsters offer fake investments in mining. 

The DFPI also received complaints about fake crypto gaming schemes, where users are encouraged to deposit funds only to have their wallets drained, and fraudsters offering fake jobs that require victims to transfer crypto and provide private information.

Victims also reported the theft of private keys through fake airdrops, fake investment group scams in WhatsApp or Telegram, AI Investment scams offering unusually high returns and losing their crypto after interacting with certain sham websites. 

The AI industry experienced significant growth in 2024, reaching a market cap of $638 billion, according to Precedence Research.

There was also a notable rise in crimeware-as-a-service (CaaS), where experienced hackers and cybercriminals sell their tools and services to less experienced offenders for a price.

DFPI Commissioner KC Mohseni said the regulator is urging caution when interacting with unknown platforms and to “verify website domains to avoid fraudulent imitations, and stay wary of crypto recovery scam sites.”

Through its partnership with the State, the DFPI says it shut down more than 26 fraudulent crypto websites and uncovered $4.6 million in user losses last year. 

California DOJ shuts down 42 crypto scam websites

California’s Department of Justice (DOJ) took down 42 crypto scam websites in 2024 that stole $6.5 million from victims, with an average loss per person of $146,306.

In a March 10 statement, the California DOJ said that because international fraudsters often carry out scams, they are difficult to prosecute and arrest.

Common threads among the scam websites were promises of high returns, no contact information, offers of prizes for signing up, and no listings on legitimate crypto industry websites such as CoinMarketCap, the California DOJ said. 

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A report from on-chain security firm Cyvers identified pig butchering schemes as one of the most costly in 2024, estimating the scam cost the industry over $5.5 billion across 200,000 identified cases. 

Meanwhile, blockchain security firm CertiK’s annual Web3 security report flagged crypto phishing attacks, which cost users $1 billion across 296 incidents, as the most significant security threat of 2024.

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