Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has denied allegations that he has been selling significant amounts of Ether for private gain. Buterin claimed to have sold his ETH tokens to support various cryptocurrency projects and other charitable endeavors. 

Here’s Why The Ethereum Founder Moved $2 Million In ETH

On Friday, August 30, blockchain data tracker Lookonchain revealed that Buterin transferred 800 ETH (price about $2 million) to a multi-signature (multi-sig) wallet. This recipient address then swapped 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC shortly after.

Within the post on the X platform, Lookonchain also noted that Buterin had moved 3,000 ETH (similar to greater than $8 million) to the identical multi-sig address on August 9. Such has been the extent of on-chain activity observed from the Ethereum co-founder prior to now few weeks.

This latest transfer prompted a crypto community member on X to accuse Buterin of ignoring the commentary on his recent ETH transfers. Then one other crypto community replied, saying that it wouldn’t be mistaken of the Ethereum co-founder to take some profit by shaving his ETH holdings.

Nonetheless, Buterin responded to this supportive post on X, claiming to not have sold any ETH for profit. The crypto founder said:

I haven’t sold and kept the proceeds since 2018. All sales have been to support various projects that I feel are beneficial, either inside the Ethereum ecosystem or broader charity (e.g. biomedical R&D).

Buterin received even greater support from the net crypto community following this revelation, with some members encouraging the Ethereum co-founder to spend a few of his assets on luxury.

How Much Ether Does Buterin Own?

In a Reddit post three years ago, Buterin disclosed that each one the Ether tokens he owns (11.9 million ETH on the time) come from the pre-mine period, of which he received about 700,000 ETH. 

Buterin's interaction with a Reddit user | Source: Reddit

For context, pre-mining might be likened to initial coin offerings (ICOs), where founders, developers, and early investors are rewarded with a percentage of the tokens.

In line with blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, Buterin currently holds about 240,000 ETH (price about $1.06 billion). This current figure is around 423,000 ETH lower than the initial tokens received by the Ethereum co-founder.

As of this writing, the price of Ethereum has slumped below $2,500, reflecting a 1.9% decline within the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the altcoin’s price is down by greater than 10% prior to now week, in line with data from CoinGecko.

The value of ETH slips below the $2,500 mark on the each day timeframe | Source: ETHUSDT chart on TradingView

Featured image from Getty Images/Michael Ciaglo, chart from TradingView