Trump Transfers 1,000 ETH to Coinbase Amidst Meme Coin Fluctuations

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has transferred 1,000 ETH to a Coinbase hot wallet, according to on-chain data. The transaction, which occurred on January 23, saw Trump's ETH balance drop from nearly 500 to just under 6 between January 22 and February 6.

The transaction involved two transfers executed within 10 minutes of each other. The first transfer, likely a test involving 1 ETH, was followed by the main transfer of 1,004 ETH, minus the fee. The ETH was transferred to an intermediary address or a centralized exchange reception wallet before being forwarded to a Coinbase Prime hot wallet.

Once the ETH entered the Coinbase Prime hot wallet, its individual path became more difficult to track due to the pooling and mixing of assets. However, the rapid rise and fall of the value of Trump family meme coins, paired with a February 3 tweet from Eric Trump saying "in my opinion, it's a great time to add ETH," raises some questions about the transaction.

Simultaneously, on-chain insights platform Spot On Chain revealed that World Liberty Financial, a company in which Donald Trump is listed as the 'chief crypto advocate,' was moving vast amounts of cryptocurrency. The firm transferred more than $300 million worth of 8 cryptocurrencies to Coinbase Prime mere hours before Eric Trump's tweet. Along with Ethereum, Bitcoin was among the moved assets.

On February 5, Eric Trump endorsed BTC in a tweet that said: "Feels like a great time to enter BTC!" The social media statement also featured a rocket emoji associated with the 'to the moon' meme and mentioned World Liberty Financial.

Despite the sequence of events raising uncomfortable questions, World Liberty Financial issued a statement on February 3 explaining that any observed transactions were 'part of regular treasury management, and payment of fees and expenses and to address working capital requirement.' The company also stressed that it was 'not selling tokens' and urged the public not to speculate.