The US government has swapped its ANT tokens for more liquid Ethereum ahead of a planned crypto phaseout.
The government-controlled crypto wallet that holds nearly $974,000 worth of digital assets has, for the first time in almost 24 months, been activated, according to Arkham Intelligence.
This is less than a week before a scheduled token phaseout is to take place on 2nd November. Early last year, AragonDAO resolved to dissolve the organization and exchange ANT for ETH.
According to the report by Arkham Intelligence, these ANT tokens are sold in two tranches worth $550,000 and $518,000 in ETH.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
ANT Token Swap Is The First Transaction In Almost Two Years
Onchain data reveals that the government-initiated transaction was the first activity on the crypto wallet in almost two years. Before this recent transaction, the US government crypto wallets got a small transfer from a high-balance crypto wallet account, which isn’t connected to ANT liquidations.
Also, this specific wallet transferred a small amount of ETH from a Coinbase wallet. These then interacted with the AragonDAO’s redemption wallet, converting the funds into Ether.
AragonDAO has decided to phase out its ANT tokens after rejecting the planned creation of a community-owned organization. There were concerns that the DAO could be the target of a Sybill attack or that concealed crypto whales could seize control of the blockchain.
Today, the industry considers AragonDAO a failed ecosystem and has locked up its Twitter/X account.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
US Gov’t Used A Loophole To Swap ANT Into More Liquid Assets
The US government has found an opportunity to swap the seized ANT tokens for more liquid and tradable assets, like ETH. The AragonDAO contract operates and currently accepts retail and professional investors.
According to the approved schedules, token swaps and redemptions are still allowed until November 2nd. A fixed rate is used for the token swaps, ignoring the erratic market pricing for the remaining ANT trades.
While Aragon has shut down its tokens, it plans to remain active after collecting the remaining funds on November 3rd to focus on other projects.
Some Alameda Crypto Wallets Are Still Active
Alameda wallets are still active, and the recent transfers boosted its value to $980,000 in ETH and other tokens. This wallet’s value is small compared to the expected distribution for FTX, which will need to pay off investors $12 billion and distribute $16 billion in expenses and fees. This development suggests that a final reimbursement for investors is coming.
While many Alameda wallets are empty or contain just minor quantities of digital assets, some nonetheless have great value. One Alameda crypto wallet, for instance, had at least $500,000 in AMPL tokens.
Some of these wallets have shown trading activities, including the trading of FTM tokens. Alameda is also trading its World (WLD) tokens, and just the other day, its wallet sent 143.77k WLD tokens to Binance.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
