Following Arbitrum’s token unlocking event, approximately 8.95 million ARB tokens worth $16.4 million were transferred to Binance. ARB’s price plummeted to $1.62 yesterday as a result of this move, reports say. Despite this decline, Arbitrum remains a dominant player in the Ethereum layer-2 space boasting significant transaction volume.
The transfer of the ARB tokens follows the ARB price drop amidst the market crash and token unlocking event. On the flip side, a few hours ago on 18th March, a whale 0x985 reportedly withdrew 1.31 million ARB ($2.23 million) from Binance.
ARB whale transactions
After much anticipation, the Layer 2 network released over 1 billion ARB tokens on March 16. There was a lot of talk about the potential impact of this event in the crypto community.
In the days following the token unlock, blockchain analytics firm SpotOnChain spotted six wallets getting tokens from the network’s vesting contracts, then transferring them to crypto exchanges.
SpotOnChain’s data shows these addresses moved 8.95 million ARB tokens, worth about $16.4 million, to Binance on 17th March. It’s worth noting that these wallets still have 32.95 million ARB tokens. The transfer to an exchange is usually seen as a bearish event because it means that the holder wants to sell.
But on the contrary, a whale 0x985 just withdrew 1.31M ARB ($2.23M) from Binance at $1.702 a few hours ago, according to SpotOnChain. After a market crash and major unlock, the whale has withdrawn 2.81M ARB via 2 transactions from Binance at $1.702 on average ($4.79M) in the past 18 hours.
Due to these transfers and the broader crypto market downturn, ARB’s price dropped to $1.62 yesterday which is its lowest level since January. However, there has been a slight recovery with the price rebounding to $1.70 as of writing. Nonetheless, the recent price decline reflects a significant loss of approximately 16% in value over the past week.
The community is hopeful
In spite of this the market observers see Arbitrum’s potential as an opportunity for investors to buy more. Data from DeFiLlama shows Arbitrum is the biggest Ethereum Layer 2 solution. With a total value locked of $4.087 billion and a substantial decentralized exchange volume, the protocol dominates the market.
Furthermore, IntoTheBlock, a blockchain analysis firm, revealed that it accounts for more than 55% of Ethereum-based Layer 2 network transactions.
“There are over 1.8 million daily transactions among top Ethereum L2s, with Arbitrum accounting for over 1 million of the total,” IntoTheBlock said. Due to the protocol’s recent integration of the Dencun Upgrade, transaction fees have been significantly reduced, enhancing its competitiveness.
