- Large MATIC transfers to Binance have raised eyebrows within the crypto community.
- The Polygon Foundation has denied any involvement.
- Questions remain amid the team’s links to the addresses.
Despite recent technological advancements in the Polygon ecosystem and the promising Polygon 2.0 roadmap, MATIC, like most major cryptocurrencies, has failed to perform at levels witnessed in the last bull market cycle as the long crypto winter continues.
Amid this rut, massive MATIC transfers to Binance have stirred further uncertainty, particularly as they were initially flagged as transactions initiated by the Polygon Foundation. Is the Polygon Foundation selling MATIC?
Polygon Labs Executives Refute Accusations
On Thursday, September 7, crypto smart money tracker Lookonchain sparked speculation that the Polygon Foundation was selling millions of dollars worth of MATIC.
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The firm tweeted that an address labeled by Nansen as belonging to the Polygon Foundation had sent 6 million MATIC (worth approximately $3.35 million) to Binance in the past two days. Additionally, the firm noted that another Nansen labeled Polygon Foundation address had sent 4.6 million MATIC (worth about $2.57 million) to Binance over the past 30 days. These claims have, however, been denied by Polygon Labs executives.
Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron was the first to respond to Lookonchain’s tweet, asserting that the Polygon Foundation did not control the wallets in question.
Polygon Labs Executive Chairman Sandeep Nailwal echoed Boiron’s sentiments, adding that it is the second time transactions have been wrongly attributed to the Polygon Foundation. Nailwal failed to highlight the first instance.
Despite the statements from the Polygon executives, questions remain about the wallets and the transfers.
Questions Linger
As highlighted by prominent crypto community member Carnation, with Polygon Labs denying ownership of the wallets, it becomes unclear who controls the wallet addresses.
Responding to the dispute, Nansen drew significant links between the Polygon Foundation and the wallet addresses in question. These links included Ethereum (ETH) transfers from Polygon Labs Head of Growth Sanket Shah and token receipts from private investment rounds Polygon participated in. Nonetheless, in a controversial move, Nansen has removed the labels “as a gesture of goodwill.”
A check on the wallet, which engaged in the most recent transactions totaling 6 million MATIC, revealed that the account no longer holds any MATIC. On the other hand, the second address, which has sent 4.6 million MATIC to Binance over the past 30 days, still holds over 130k MATIC (worth approximately $73k at the time of writing).
As part of MATIC’s tokenomics, 2.1 billion MATIC was allocated to the Polygon Foundation, an entity formed to support the network through research, development, and education.
On the Flipside
- The ownership of the wallets and the reason for the Binance deposits remain unclear.
- The news has not negatively impacted the price of MATIC. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $0.5553, representing a minimal 0.13% gain in the past 24 hours per data from CoinMarketCap.
Why This Matters
Projects can hurt community trust and even spark panic by sending large amounts of their tokens to exchanges. The large MATIC transfers to Binance had raised similar concerns, though the Polygon team denies any involvement.
Read this to learn more about recent Polygon developments:
Casio Tips Polygon for G-Shock NFTs Amid Big Brand Partnership Spree
Learn more about Binance’s latest string of executive exits:
Binance Executive Exodus Continues as Russia Chiefs Bow Out
