Ethereum Founder’s Moves Raise Concerns
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has recently been under scrutiny due to significant ETH transactions involving an address linked to him. These activities have sparked concerns among investors, who found the transactions suspicious despite Buterin’s previous explanations. Following the latest sale, Buterin clarified the details and sought to alleviate community concerns.
In August, Buterin executed large-scale ETH transfers to a multisig wallet associated with him. These movements raised alarms among investors, worried that a massive selloff could exacerbate selling pressure on Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, in an already volatile market.
According to Bitcoinist, on August 9, Buterin transferred 3,000 ETH, valued at approximately $8.04 million at the time, to the multisig wallet. Twenty days later, he sent another 800 ETH, worth around $2.01 million, to the same address. The multisig then swapped 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC. The news of these transactions led to heavy criticism from the crypto community. Some accused Buterin of “bullposting while dumping” on the community, while others expressed concerns about the future of ETH’s price, given that developers were allegedly “dumping on us.”
However, a segment of the investor community felt the backlash was unwarranted, arguing that there is “nothing wrong with taking profits once in a while.” Responding to these claims, Buterin asserted that he does not sell tokens for personal profit. In a post on platform X, he explained that all sales since 2018 have been to support various projects he deems valuable. These include initiatives within the Ethereum ecosystem and broader charitable causes, such as biomedical research and development.
Buterin further clarified that the same principle applied to Layer-2 tokens or any other project tokens he held, stating that all sales from those tokens would be donated to public goods.
Is Vitalik Done Selling?
Despite Buterin’s efforts to clarify the nature of these sales, the crypto community grew worried again when news of another sale emerged. On September 11, on-chain data analysis firm Lookonchain reported that the multisig wallet associated with Buterin had sold another 190 ETH that morning.
This transaction, valued at 441,971 USDC, was part of a series of sales. Since August 30, the multisig wallet had sold 950 ETH, worth approximately $2.27 million, at an average price of $2,396 per ETH. The 950 ETH selloff was divided into five smaller transactions of 190 ETH each, occurring every three days. Following the latest transaction, Buterin deposited the proceeds from the 950 ETH to the decentralized protocol Aave.
The news alarmed some users, who once again criticized Buterin for selling while simultaneously promoting Ethereum. Some questioned his previous explanations, suggesting they might not be entirely truthful. In another post on platform X, Buterin addressed these concerns, detailing the reason behind the latest move.
According to Ethereum’s founder, Wednesday’s transaction was triggered by an “automatic cowswap twap order” made by a bio-defense group he funds. The order was set up on August 29 but was executed on Wednesday, implying that the other four sales had a similar setup. Buterin also stated that it “was the last one,” suggesting that, for the time being, investors should not worry about further selloffs related to these orders.
As of now, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading at $2,348, showing a modest 0.2% increase in the last 24 hours.
