Jump Crypto moves hundreds of millions in crypto as prices slide

As asset prices continue to slide across the crypto industry, with bitcoin crashing below 60,000 today before making a modest recovery, Jump Crypto appears to be liquidating hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto, blockchain data shows. 

Addresses tagged as belonging to trading firm Jump Crypto by Arkham Intelligence have seen an inflow of about $300 million since yesterday, August 3, mostly from addresses tagged as exchange wallets by Arkham. Similarly, the trading firm's wallets have seen outflows of about $80 million over the same period, again mostly to exchanges such as Coinbase, Gate.io, Binance, and others, blockchain data show. The movement of the funds is ongoing. 

Much of the moved funds take the form of ether. As pointed out by X user EmberCN, Jump has seemingly been in the process of redeeming what was over $500 million worth of Lido's wstETH into ether since July 25, days after US-based spot ether ETFs launched on the 23rd. Jump still holds about $130 million staked ether, while nearly $200 million worth of unstaked ether has entered exchanges, according to EmberCN. 

Jump Crypto's President, Kanav Kariya, left the firm in June after three years in his role, shortly after a report alleged the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is looking into the firm's crypto investing activity. 

As Jump appears to sell its crypto, prices across the industry continue to slide, with DeFi-related tokens hit particularly hard. While the prices of bitcoin and ethereum are still positive year-to-date, with bitcoin up 45%, The Block's DeFi index is down nearly 18%.