Venture Capital Firm a16z Unloads $7M of MKR Tokens as Price Soars
Lending platform Maker’s governance tokens soared to near one-year high prices last week prior to the sales.
Venture capital heavyweight (a16z) is selling a part of its investment in crypto lender MakerDAO's governance tokens as the price of coins soared to a near one-year high, blockchain data shows.
Some $7 million of MKR were transferred from a16z’s crypto wallet to a freshly created address late Thursday, according to Ethereum blockchain monitoring website . The new wallet on Saturday then began depositing batches of 1,380 tokens – worth roughly $1.5 million – per day to crypto exchange Coinbase.
Sending tokens to an exchange usually signals intention to sell. Up through Tuesday, deposits from that wallet to Coinbase totaled $6.1 million, with the latest transaction occurring at Tuesday 14:18 UTC.
A representative of a16z did not immediately return a request for comment.
The transactions happened as MKR Friday to a near-one year high above $1,200 following the activation of a new token buyback scheme that is removing coins from the market, reducing their supply. The token pared some of its gains, sinking to as low as $1,040 on Monday, and has risen 10% since to its current $1,140.
MakerDAO is one of the largest decentralized finance () lending platforms and the issuer of the $4.6 billion stablecoin . The platform is managed by a decentralized autonomous organization (), where MKR token holders – including a16z – can vote on governance proposals.
The venture capital firm was one of the largest investors in MakerDAO, 6% of MKR’s supply for $15 million in September 2018.
The protocol is currently undergoing a major overhaul spearheaded by founder Rune Christensen. The so-called includes breaking up the protocol’s units into smaller, autonomous entities (SubDAOs) that could issue their own tokens.
In October, a16z the plan to create new units arguing that the structure at the time was sufficiently decentralized. However, community members favored the changes in a governance vote.
After the transactions, a16z’s crypto wallets still hold 12,395 MKR – 1.3% of its circulating supply – worth $14 million, per blockchain forensics platform Arkham Intelligence’s .
Edited by Stephen Alpher.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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In 2025, the stablecoin market shows strong signs of growth. Research indicates that the market cap of USD-pegged stablecoins has surged 46% year-over-year, with total trading volume reaching $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined volume of Visa and Mastercard transactions in 2024. The average circulating supply is also up 28% from the previous year, reflecting sustained market demand. Once used primarily for crypto trading and DeFi collateral, stablecoins are now expanding into cross-border payments and real-world asset management, reinforcing their growing importance in the global financial system. More banks and enterprises are starting to issue their own stablecoins. Standard Chartered launched an HKD-backed stablecoin, and PayPal issued PYUSD. The CEO of Bank of America has expressed interest in launching a stablecoin once regulations permit (via CNBC). Fidelity is developing its own USD stablecoin, while JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America plan to follow suit when market conditions stabilize. Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial (backed by the Trump family) has introduced USD1, backed by assets such as government bonds and cash.
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