Ethereum Price Today: Base Fee Controversy, Whale Activity, and Institutional Interest

A controversy has erupted over Base's handling of sequencer fees in its Layer 2 network. Critics claim that instead of retaining those funds, they are being converted into Bitcoin.

This move allegedly contradicts the original value proposition of Layer 2 rollups, which were designed to scale the base chain while still relying on it for settlement and security.

Abraxas Capital has also made significant moves across the network, depositing $61.19 million in USDT to Bitfinex and supplying 40,000 ETH valued at approximately $75.17 million to lending protocol Spark through its Wrapped Token Gateway.

Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, purchased nearly $5 million worth of ETH through two over-the-counter transfers, receiving a total of 2,675 tokens.