20M MATIC Moved From Polygon Staking Sparks Selloff Fears

Up to 20 million Polygon (MATIC) have moved on-chain from a Polygon Staking address.

According to Whale Alert, the MATIC movement came in two tranches on October 18 and 20. Though these transfers came from Polygon Staking, the actions originated from different wallets.

Is the MATIC Movement Strategic?

Since the transfers originate from Polygon Staking, market watchers infer nothing unusual about the movements. However, this has not eased concerns that the exit of liquidity from Polygon Staking can unsettle the layer-2 scaling network.

Per Whale Alert, the first tranche saw a total of 10 million units worth $5.16 million transferred to an unknown wallet. With the transaction completed, the value of each MATIC moved is pegged at $0.5157.

The second tranche saw an increased monetary valuation of $5.37 million for the same 10,000,000 units. This increment shows the uptick in MATIC’s price, which coincides with an ongoing rally in the market. This bullish run stems from the dismissal of charges against the executives of Ripple Labs, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, by the US SEC.

The wallet addresses of the whales who initiated these transfers are familiar. While the address linked to the Oct. 18 10 million MATIC transfer has conducted 28 transactions spanning close to 3 years, the Oct. 20 address has conducted 57 transactions, with the first recorded about four months ago.

With skin in the game, the MATIC exodus appears strategic, modeling related mass awakening of old addresses on Polygon.

Whale Token Transfers: a Growing Trend

While current on-chain data shows MATIC’s notable whale actions, the trend is becoming encompassing. 

Market whales often move assets like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Shiba Inu (SHIB), among others. Though the distribution of these whales appears concentrated to established L1 protocols with robust liquidity, Polygon now proves L2 tokens are equally significant to these big market players.