BNB whale cashes out $2.3 million after two years of dormancy amid regulatory woes

Layer 1s • June 12, 2023, 9:10AM EDT

UPDATED: June 12, 2023, 9:18AM EDT

Quick Take

A crypto whale has sold off BNB worth $2.3 million after two years of dormancy.
The move comes after BNB was called security last week by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A BNB whale has cashed out part of its holdings after two years of dormancy amid an ongoing crypto regulatory crackdown.

The whale has sold off 10,000 BNB coins at $230 each, pocketing $2.3 million, according to on-chain analyst account Lookonchain. The wallet still has 15,000 coins — or roughly $3.5 million — left.

The whale accumulated Binance's coin for cheap two years ago, when they had made 110,000 BNB — $47.5 million at that time — with only 10 BNB on a SafeMoon trade, according to Lookonchain. The whale could make millions because they had transferred 10 BNB to SafeMoon and received 100 trillion SafeMoon tokens, most of which they dumped for 110,000 BNB then. They then transferred some and held 25,000 until now.

A crypto whale cashes out $2.3 million worth of BNB after two years of dormancy. Source: Lookonchain

The SEC called BNB a security

The sale comes as the token was called a security by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission last week, when the regulator sued Binance, Binance.US and their owner, Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao for allegedly breaking securities laws. The price of BNB, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has fallen by over 22% in the last seven days and is currently trading at around $233.

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The SEC lawsuits against Binance and rival Coinbase have resulted in outflows and declining crypto prices. According to crypto analytics provider Nansen, over $2.5 billion in net outflow has occurred from Binance during the past seven days — plus over $112 million from Binance.US. The latter exchange has also experienced a 78% decline in market depth following the SEC lawsuit. Binance has said it would defend the SEC charges vigorously.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.