‘No special deals’: LayerZero CEO denies ties to whale with 2.6% of ZRO

ambcryptoPublicado a 2026-03-19Actualizado a 2026-03-19

Resumen

An unknown whale has accumulated 2.6% of LayerZero’s ZRO token supply, worth $47.5 million, across 9 wallets funded via Coinbase Prime. The buying spree began shortly after the Zero chain announcement, leading to speculation of insider involvement. However, LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino denied any knowledge of the investor and emphasized that the project offers "no special deals or discounts" to institutions. ZRO’s price recently surged 60% to a key resistance level of $2.5, which has historically been a sell zone. Over 34 million ZRO were previously acquired at this price, creating potential selling pressure. Despite this, on-chain data indicates holders continue to accumulate rather than sell. A break above $2.5 could push ZRO toward $3.3, while a rejection may lead to a retest of support near $1.5.

An unknown entity or individual has been secretly stockpiling LayerZero’s ZRO token. At the time of writing, the said whale has acquired $47.5 million of ZRO, about 24.5 million tokens, a whopping 2.6% of the circulating supply.

According to the crypto analytics platform Nansen, the accumulation spree has been occurring across 9 wallets, funded by a single source: Coinbase Prime. The firm further highlighted.

Start of March, accumulation begins quietly on Coinbase. The accumulation started exactly 3 weeks after the Zero chain announcement.

Given the coincidence of the chain announcement and the whale-level investment, some market watchers speculated that the investor could be part of LayerZero’s inner circle.

LayerZero denies knowing the mysterious buyer

However, LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino clarified that he did not know the investor.

We’ve told every fund and institution we’ve spoken to our preference is they just buy ZRO directly on the open market, vs purchasing from labs or foundation. No special deals, no discounts.

The Zero chain is set to go live in the fall of 2026, and the project attracted major financial backers, including Citadel Securities, Tether, Ark Invest, and Google. To some, this could be a positioning for institutional trading of tokenized markets.

But it remains unclear whether the mysterious whale buyer was planning to sell the tokens when the chain goes live.

ZRO hits a sell wall

That said, ZRO was up 60% from the range low of $1.49 and had hit $2.5, a key resistance zone since H2 2025. The recent recovery attempts in January and February were rejected at the roadblock (red).

Source: ZRO/USDT, TradingView

If the trend repeats, late buyers could wait for another buying opportunity at $1.5. However, flipping $2.5 into support could fuel the rally to $3.3.

However, over 34 million ZRO was acquired at the resistance zone, which could tip some investors who have broken even to close their positions. If so, this could add pressure and reinforce the area as a key roadblock.

Source: Glassnode

Still, at the time of writing, selling pressure from holders was not yet evident.

According to the 14-day average Holder Net Position Change, investors were still holding and adding to their stash, as shown by green bars.

Source: Glassnode

However, should the metric turn red, it would suggest holders have begun offloading. Such a move could further reinforce $2.5 as a key obstacle for bulls to overcome to extend the rally.


Final Summary

  • A mysterious whale has acquired 2.6% of the overall ZRO circulating supply, but LayerZero denied any affiliation with the investor.
  • The $2.5 level has been a roadblock since 2025 and could derail ZRO recovery if there is no near-term catalyst.

Criptos en tendencia

Preguntas relacionadas

QWhat percentage of the ZRO circulating supply has the mysterious whale acquired?

AThe mysterious whale has acquired 2.6% of the ZRO circulating supply.

QAccording to the CEO, what is LayerZero's preference for how funds and institutions should acquire ZRO tokens?

ALayerZero's preference is that funds and institutions buy ZRO directly on the open market, rather than purchasing from labs or the foundation, with no special deals or discounts.

QWhat key resistance level has ZRO's price been facing since the second half of 2025?

AThe key resistance level ZRO has been facing is $2.5.

QWhich crypto analytics platform identified that the whale's accumulation was funded by a single source?

AThe crypto analytics platform Nansen identified that the accumulation was funded by a single source: Coinbase Prime.

QWhat does a red bar on the 14-day average Holder Net Position Change metric indicate?

AA red bar on the 14-day average Holder Net Position Change metric indicates that holders have begun offloading (selling) their ZRO tokens.

Lecturas Relacionadas

Bitcoin Withdrawals Continue: 8 Years of Storage in a Coldcard Cold Wallet Ended in Zero

Coldcard Hardware Wallet Hacked: Losses Mount Due to Vulnerable Seed Generation A critical vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets has led to a continued wave of fund thefts. According to Galaxy Research, the total stolen has reached 1,367.05 BTC (approx. $88.6 million) from 4,585 addresses, a significant increase from the initial 594.5 BTC reported on July 30, 2026. Most of the stolen funds remain on the attackers' addresses. The issue is not with the current firmware, which Coinkite has updated, but with seed phrases generated on vulnerable devices between March 2021 and the release of fixed firmware versions. Due to a programmer error, devices switched from using a hardware random number generator to the software-based Yasmarang generator, which was initialized with publicly accessible data like the chip's serial number. This made the seed phrases predictable through offline brute-force attacks, meaning wallets remain at risk until funds are moved to a new wallet generated with the patched firmware. Affected devices include Mk2/Mk3 with firmware 4.0.1–4.1.9 (and up to 5.0.3), Mk4/Mk5 up to version 5.6.0, and Q models up to 1.5.0Q. The only exceptions are seeds created with a high-entropy method like at least 50 independent dice rolls or a strong unique BIP-39 passphrase. All other owners must generate a new seed on the fixed firmware and transfer their assets. A case highlighting the human impact involves a 39-year-old long-term investor who lost 2 BTC (approx. $130,000) in minutes. He had accumulated the Bitcoin over eight years through physical labor, viewing it as a financial lifeline and a retirement plan in a country suffering from hyperinflation. His story underscores that even conservative "buy and hold in cold storage" strategies can be compromised by such underlying technical flaws. From a technical perspective, this incident echoes historical failures where weak random number generators undermined cryptographic security, challenging the assumption that offline storage is automatically foolproof.

cryptonews.ruHace 1 hora(s)

Bitcoin Withdrawals Continue: 8 Years of Storage in a Coldcard Cold Wallet Ended in Zero

cryptonews.ruHace 1 hora(s)

Trading

Spot

Artículos destacados

Cómo comprar ZRO

¡Bienvenido a HTX.com! Hemos hecho que comprar LayerZero (ZRO) sea simple y conveniente. Sigue nuestra guía paso a paso para iniciar tu viaje de criptos.Paso 1: crea tu cuenta HTXUtiliza tu correo electrónico o número de teléfono para registrarte y obtener una cuenta gratuita en HTX. Experimenta un proceso de registro sin complicaciones y desbloquea todas las funciones.Obtener mi cuentaPaso 2: ve a Comprar cripto y elige tu método de pagoTarjeta de crédito/débito: usa tu Visa o Mastercard para comprar LayerZero (ZRO) al instante.Saldo: utiliza fondos del saldo de tu cuenta HTX para tradear sin problemas.Terceros: hemos agregado métodos de pago populares como Google Pay y Apple Pay para mejorar la comodidad.P2P: tradear directamente con otros usuarios en HTX.Over-the-Counter (OTC): ofrecemos servicios personalizados y tipos de cambio competitivos para los traders.Paso 3: guarda tu LayerZero (ZRO)Después de comprar tu LayerZero (ZRO), guárdalo en tu cuenta HTX. Alternativamente, puedes enviarlo a otro lugar mediante transferencia blockchain o utilizarlo para tradear otras criptomonedas.Paso 4: tradear LayerZero (ZRO)Tradear fácilmente con LayerZero (ZRO) en HTX's mercado spot. Simplemente accede a tu cuenta, selecciona tu par de trading, ejecuta tus trades y monitorea en tiempo real. Ofrecemos una experiencia fácil de usar tanto para principiantes como para traders experimentados.

224 Vistas totalesPublicado en 2024.12.10Actualizado en 2026.06.02

Cómo comprar ZRO

Discusiones

Bienvenido a la comunidad de HTX. Aquí puedes mantenerte informado sobre los últimos desarrollos de la plataforma y acceder a análisis profesionales del mercado. A continuación se presentan las opiniones de los usuarios sobre el precio de ZRO (ZRO).

活动图片