Jakarta, Pintu News – The cryptocurrency market has been stirred up again by the wallet movements of Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who has been very active in selling throughout February 2026. The massive sell-off comes amidst fragile market conditions, sparking concerns among investors about the future of the world’s number two digital asset price.
In addition to Vitalik’s sell-off, a sharp increase in inflows to global exchanges and a decline in staking interest have put additional pressure on the ecosystem. Observers are now wondering whether this barrage of negative signals will drag prices down further or be part of a healthy asset redistribution for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Vitalik Buterin has sold more than 8,800 ETH throughout February 2026. The total value of the assets released is estimated at $18.45 million or equivalent to Rp310.5 billion if converted using an exchange rate of Rp16,829 per US dollar. This sell-off is actually part of Vitalik’s strategic plan to allocate a total of 16,384 ETH to support various long-term initiatives over the next few years.
Vitalik also shared on social media that he is exploring more secure decentralized staking options in order to repurpose his staking reward capital for development purposes. The impact of this series of sales has been significant on the price movements in the crypto market.
In early February, Vitalik sold around 6,958 ETH which coincided with Ethereum’s (ETH) price slump of 22.7% from $2,360 to $1,825. More recently, in the last two days alone, he reportedly offloaded another 1,869 ETH which triggered a further 5.7% price drop in a short period of time. Despite his massive selling volume, data shows that Vitalik Buterin still holds a total balance of 224,105 ETH in his main digital wallet.
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Around the same time as the founder’s sell-off, Ethereum (ETH) inflows to the Binance exchange recorded a surge to its highest level since November 2025. Total deposits to the exchange over the past 30 days have reached a fantastic $33.3 billion.
The surge in inflows to exchanges is often taken by analysts as an indication that investors are preparing to make quick deals or even liquidate their assets. The largest exchange deposits in recent months put considerable psychological pressure on retail traders who are monitoring price movements.
While an increase in exchange inflows is usually considered a bearish or negative signal, some analysts mention that this phenomenon could also reflect strategic repositories by big players. Under conditions of extremely high market volatility, investors tend to move their assets to centralized exchanges in order to respond more instantly to price movements.
However, you should remain vigilant because if the additional supply in the market is not immediately absorbed by strong market demand, the downward price pressure may continue for some time to come. This puts the market in a highly sensitive phase to global macroeconomic news.

The general state of the cryptocurrency market looks increasingly challenging with reports of a sharp decline in demand for Ethereum (ETH) staking activity. Asset holders now seem to have a higher preference for holding their liquidity directly rather than locking it in the network protocol for yield.
Macroeconomic uncertainty as well as investors’ rapidly declining risk appetite are the main reasons why many have begun to move away from long-term commitments in these networks. This reflects the cautious attitude of large financiers amidst a downward trend that shows no sign of ending.
The direct impact of this reduced staking activity is the increased amount of freely circulating Ethereum (ETH) supply or liquid supply in the market. When more coins are available for trading while demand from new buyers remains low, this automatically creates additional selling pressure on the price chart.
You should note that the current price movement of ETH is highly dependent on how the market is able to absorb the abundant liquidity amidst the global downtrend. As of now, Ethereum (ETH) is still trading at around $1,868.04, which means it has decreased by around 5.35% in the last 24 hours.
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