On-chain analysts point out that the whale address mistakenly identified as belonging to the Ethereum Foundation was actually a buyer in the BAT ICO.

On-chain analyst Specter pointed out that the attribution label of the whale address 0x5CBC…209, which was recently accused of being associated with the Ethereum Foundation in a sell-off, is flawed. This address was actually the largest ICO buyer of BAT in 2017 and belonged to an early, highly active individual investor or independent institution. Source tracing data shows that this address received 17,700 ETH (approximately $79 million) and 10 million DAI from address 0xF39 in August 2025.