Avalanche Foundation faces scrutiny over alleged $180M token transfers as AVAX price declines

The Avalanche Foundation came under fire when on-chain data analyst and researcher, Emperor Osmo, called out a steady flow of about $180 million that flowed from the foundation into Coinbase over six months, implying that the team behind the AVAX token has contributed to its recent downtrend. 

Emperor Osmo, with former ties to the Osmosis DEX on Cosmos and Artemis Analytics, made the claim via his X profile, fingering the Avalanche Foundation for sending about 1.88% of the 431.77 million AVAX tokens in circulation to a centralized exchange, which historically means they are getting disposed of on the open market. 

The AVAX token is trading at $9.10 as of writing, down between 44% and 50% over the last year across different price-tracking platforms. The picture is worse from the infamous October 10-11 crash point, when it was actually trading around $21.

Is Avalanche Foundation selling AVAX tokens?

Emperor Osmo has called out attempts to offload tokens multiple times in recent months, despite the Avalanche Foundation not announcing any AVAX token sales during that period.  

Attempts to verify those transfer claims on-chain did not immediately yield results, and when asked to point to his source, Emperor Osmo replied, “You know who,” implying a potential whistleblower or at least someone with access to privileged information that can’t be easily publicly verified. 

The big claim this time around is that the team has sent about $180 million of tokens to Coinbase in the last six months, with the 104 million tokens in a single transaction punchline delivered a few times in interactions with commenters. 

Emperor Osmo had intimated problems with the Avalanche Foundation’s handling of its token without explicitly naming the foundation. 

In an April 8 X post, he made the rhetorical comment, “Imagine if every FDN were as transparent when they  sold.” The post was in response to the headline that the Ethereum Foundation sold 5,000 ETH tokens to support “R&D, grants, and donations.” 

Ironically, the Ethereum Foundation has also faced criticism in the past for selling into rallies, which has since subsided since the EF unveiled its bumper 70,000 ETH DeFi staking program as an alternative to always selling tokens to fulfill its financial obligations. 

Every rally will be shorted.$AVAX pic.twitter.com/V42f3JfTM5

— Emperor Osmo 🐂 🎯 (@Flowslikeosmo) April 8, 2026

On April 7, Emperor Osmo added the $AVAX cashtag to an unsolicited post that said: “Every rally will be shorted.” When pressed for context, he implied that backing the token to keep it trending downward would be his strategy. 

Why is Avalanche Foundation facing criticism?

One theme that persisted was the lack of transparency in the foundation’s alleged sales, as contrasted with Emperor Osmo’s response to news of the Ethereum Foundation’s latest token sales. 

The Avalanche Foundation is the nonprofit organization designated to support the long-term goals of the Avalanche network, and in the foundation’s defense, it has relatively lived up to the billing, staying in the top 25 among crypto tokens by market capitalization while other OG projects have stepped down for newer, hotter ones.  

The network reported that it achieved sub-second block times on April 8, building on recent news that the second round of its $40 million Retro9000 C-Chain grant program had gone live.  

Pro-foundation commentators also point to the recent move by the CME Group to add AVAX futures to its regulated cryptocurrency derivatives offerings, pending regulatory review, as of May 4, as evidence of progress. 

The Avalanche Foundation was also integral to pushing the Avalanche Treasury Co. deal across the finish line to build corporate AVAX reserves worth over $1 billion. 

However, the criticism still remains among people like Emperor Osmo, who question the project’s long-term viability, especially if the undisclosed token sales they allege persist.