Information on social media platform X(formerly Twitter) suggests that Friend.tech founders 0xRacerAlt and Shrimppepe have connections to a failed NFT project, Kosetto.

Kosetto NFTs

Kosetto is a tradeable NFT wearables project launched last December on Ethereum. The project, which consisted of 1,689 items, sparked significant excitement with users flooding social media platforms with posts about it. However, after it had introduced a Chrome extension for its NFTs in January, the project went silent in February after promising that “something big was coming.”

OpenSea’s data shows that the floor price of the collection is currently 0.01 ETH, around $17. The last sale for the NFTs occurred in February, with its total sales volume at only 5 ETH.

As of press time, Kosetto’s website was unavailable, displaying an Error 402.

Describing the project’s sudden demise, Justin Kalland, the Vice President of Innovation at Horizen Labs Ventures, said:

“The entire thing just disappeared, last update was in January that a Chrome extension was available. No communication or warning to users.”

Link to Friend.tech founders

On X, several crypto community members have pointed out that the struggling NFT project was linked to the Friend.tech founders.

Kalland pointed out that a search of 0xRacerAlt’s tweet shows that they have deleted several links to the NFT project and that the Friend.tech founder held an official position on Kosetto Discord.

CryptoSlate confirmed that 0xRacerAlt and Shrimppepe play an active role in Kosetto’s Discord community.

Digital asset investment products experienced a significant outflow of funds this week, totaling $55 million, according to the weekly report by CoinShares.

Analysts, including James Butterfill, believe the market’s reaction is due to the disappointment from recent media reports indicating a delay by the US Securities & Exchange Commission in approving a US spot-based ETF.

Bitcoin, the leading digital asset, reversed the previous week’s inflows, recording outflows of $42 million. At the same time, short-Bitcoin positions saw outflows for nearly the 17th week in a row, except for minor inflows totaling $2k. Ethereum followed the Bitcoin trend, experiencing $9 million worth of outflows.

Altcoins were not spared from this sell-off, with Polygon, Litecoin, and Polkadot seeing respective outflows of $0.9 million, $0.6 million, and $0.5 million. The outflows were broad across product providers but primarily focused on Canada and Germany, which experienced US$35.9 million and $11 million in outflows, respectively.

Switzerland and Australia, however, reported minor inflows totaling $3.5 million and $0.1 million, respectively.

The figures take month-to-date outflows to $110 million for August. However, year-to-date numbers show $345 million in inflows.

According to on-chain data, a wallet associated with Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent 600 Ether worth roughly $1 million to Coinbase earlier today.

The motive behind the transaction remains speculative as of press time. Usually, transfers to exchange are translated to mean an intention to sell. With Ethereum’s price recently struggling, Buterin’s transaction could further exert more selling pressure on the digital asset.

Meanwhile, on-chain sleuth Lookonchain reported that Vitalik.eth wallet repaid 251,000 RAI on DeFi platform Maker and withdrew 1,000 ETH (around $1.67 million) on Aug. 20.

The wallet known as “vitalik.eth” was created seven years ago and contained 3,993 ETH, worth $6.5 million as of press time. CryptoSlate, using the Arkham Intelligence dashboard, confirmed that the wallet belonged to the Ethereum co-founder. Other digital assets in the wallet include $84,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) and $58,000 worth of Wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

This is not the first time Buterin would transfer assets to a crypto exchange. Earlier in the year, the Ethereum co-founder sent 200 ETH to Kraken in March. Around the same period, Buterin dumped several unsolicited altcoins (sh*tcoins) for 439.25 ETH.

ETH price struggling

Buterin’s transaction is coming on the heels of last Thursday’s crypto market flash crash. Last week, ETH’s price fell below $1700 for the first time since June and continued to trade under the mark as of press time.

According to CryptoSlate’s data, ETH traded at $1667 at the time of writing after a slight decline of 0.18% in the last 24 hours.

However, data from blockchain analytical firm Glassnode shows that Ethereum holders are jealously guarding their holdings as they rapidly send their assets off crypto exchanges. According to the data aggregator, the amount of ETH held on exchanges is 14.88 million, a level not recorded since 2018.