Embattled crypto exchange Kucoin has surprisingly taken store of 1,407,941,951,453 (1.4 trillion) units of Shiba Inu tokens from an unknown source.
Market tracker Whale Alert called attention to the transaction in a recent post on X. According to the report, 1,407,941,951,453 SHIB tokens were transferred from an anonymous wallet to Kucoin. At the time of the report, the transferred 1.4 trillion SHIB was worth $43,508,926.
🚨 🚨 1,407,941,951,453 #SHIB (43,508,926 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Kucoinhttps://t.co/nY3a5Me9sO
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) March 29, 2024
Demystifying the Source of the Shiba Inu
This transaction has come as a surprise to some, considering that KuCoin is facing criminal allegations from the U.S. government.
“In light of the recent news regarding illegal operation by Kucoin it’s surprising to see major trades still using the platform,” an X user remarked.
On the other hand, some market participants ponder whether the movement has bullish implications for the Shiba Inu token itself.
Notably, these speculations have emerged amid the unknown source of the 1.4 trillion Shiba Inu moved to KuCoin.
However, on-chain data indicates that the source address is not anonymous as it is one of KuCoin’s cold storage wallets. In particular, the transaction was a withdrawal from KuCoin Wallet 20 to KuCoin Wallet 6.
KuCoin Heightened Withdrawal
Over the past few hours, KuCoin Wallet 20 has consistently been depleted of various tokens to different addresses. This withdrawal trend on KuCoin has remained consistent within the past three days.
For instance, on Wednesday, the exchange transferred $158 million in XRP to another wallet to accommodate the increasing volume of cashout requests.
This withdrawal surge coincided with the U.S. government charging KuCoin and its founders for allegedly profiting unlawfully from American users on its platform, stirring fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) within the community.
Responding to the development, KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu underscored that regulatory actions like these are not exclusive to KuCoin. He asserted that they constitute parts of the crypto industry’s development phases.
Also, Ki Young Ju, the founder of the analytics platform CryptoQuant, has provided on-chain data suggesting no need for panic as the exchange possesses adequate reserves to fulfill withdrawal requests.