AERO, the native cryptocurrency for decentralized exchange Aerodrome, has over 120,000 holders, which includes Coinbase Ventures and US Representative Michael Collins.
On Thursday, a wallet linked to Coinbase Ventures withdrew 1.5 million AERO tokens valued at approximately $925,000 from Definitive, an onchain trading platform founded by ex-Coinbase employees, data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen shows.
The same day, Michael Collins, the representative for Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, disclosed three transactions that showed his exposure to AERO, according to a periodic transaction report filed with the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Two of the transactions were each valued between $1,001-$15,000, while the remaining one was worth between $15,001-$50,000.
Read More: Ethereum Earns $2.7 Billion in Fees Each Year: Lookonchain
Collins’ last transaction of AERO occurred on July 6, prior to the token’s recent price jump in the past week. Six days ago when Collins last transacted with AERO, the token was trading at 51.8 cents and since then the token has increased nearly 20% to 61.8 cents, growing its market cap to $327.9 million and its fully diluted valuation to $710.7 million.
Coinbase Ventures withdrawing AERO from Definitive’s smart contracts on Thursday was not the first time the firm had conducted that type of onchain transaction. Per Nansen, Coinbase Ventures withdrew AERO from Definitive several times over the past year. For example, the firm’s associated wallet address withdrew more than 2.5 million AERO tokens in April, currently valued at nearly $1.56 million.
AERO is distributed to liquidity providers and can be locked up to give holders governance rights for Aerodrome, the largest decentralized finance protocol on Coinbase-incubated layer 2 network Base, by the total amount of crypto assets locked into the platform with $514 million. Aerodrome is also part of Coinbase Ventures’ portfolio, per the firm’s website.
Coinbase Ventures and US policymaker Michael Collins did not immediately respond to Unchained’s request for comment.
