a16z Transfers $7 Million Worth of Maker (MKR) Tokens to Exchange
Investment firm a16z is reportedly taking advantage of the recent surge in Maker (MKR) prices to reduce its exposure to this DeFi token.
a16z Transfers MKR Tokens
According to on-chain data, Andeessen Horowitz (a16z) has sold a portion of its investment in MakerDAO’s governance token MKR due to the token's significant price increase over the past week.
a16z was found to have moved $7 million worth of MKR tokens in several small transactions to a new wallet address. This wallet has been transferring MKR tokens to Coinbase since last Thursday, as per Arkham’s tracking.
🚨 Paradigm deposited 3K $MKR to #Coinbase at $1,187 ($3.56M) 6hrs ago.$MKR price slightly🔻before recovering to the current rate.
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) July 27, 2023
Notably, Paradigm might have sold all of their $MKR and realized an estimated profit of $17.16M (+78%).
Details 👇 (1/4)https://t.co/rhQe9SO8fG pic.twitter.com/jtN4nH8RLG
Image: CoinDesk/Arkham
When CoinDesk reached out for comments regarding these transactions, a16z representatives did not provide any additional statements.
Read more: a16z Invests in Blockchain Technology Aleo
Reasons Behind the MKR Transfers
The transfers might be attributed to the recent price surge of MKR, which saw a 37% increase, reaching $1,250 – the highest since December 2022. However, this week has seen MKR’s price correcting to around $1,130 - $1,150.
Image: Binance, 4h MKR/USDT Chart at 10:55 AM, 26/07/2023
The increase in MKR's price was driven by MakerDAO's mid-July proposal to use a portion of its reserve funds to buy back MKR tokens from the market, thus reducing the circulating supply.
Paradigm's Transactions
On the morning of July 27, the crypto community noticed that another investment firm, Paradigm, transferred $3.56 million worth of MKR tokens to Coinbase.
🔥 Smart Burn Engine Deployment
— Maker (@MakerDAO) July 14, 2023
As per the latest successful governance poll and the Stability Scope, a new Smart Burn Engine will be deployed, if this executive proposal passes.
About MakerDAO
MakerDAO is one of the most renowned and oldest names in the DeFi sector on Ethereum. The project issues the DAI stablecoin, which currently has a market cap of $4.6 billion, and manages a DAO where MKR token holders, including a16z, can participate in governance.
In May 2023, MakerDAO updated its "Endgame Plan" with two key phases: issuing a new governance token and deploying a blockchain expected to be a layer-2 solution for Ethereum. The new stablecoin promises benefits like yield farming with the new token or MKR on MakerDAO and its subDAOs.
