Vitalik Buterin Sells 17,196 ETH, Sparking Market Discussions Amid Ethereum Rally

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-02-26Last updated on 2026-02-26

Abstract

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold 17,196 ETH worth approximately $34.96 million, exceeding his previously announced plan to sell 16,384 ETH. The sales occurred amid an 8% price surge for Ethereum over 24 hours, sparking discussions among traders regarding his broader strategy. Buterin stated that these sales are not for personal profit or market timing but to fund long-term projects aligned with his vision for Ethereum. Despite recent gains, with ETH trading around $2,053 and daily volume up 61%, the price remains 30% lower over the month. Significant liquidations, mostly from short positions, and a rise in open interest indicate heightened market activity.

Vitalik Buterin is continuously selling ETH beyond his selling plan, as he sold more than $34 million in Ethereum. The latest sales occurred as Ethereum gained more than 8% in the past 24 hours, indicating a resurgence of positive momentum, and causing debates among traders over Buterin’s broader strategy.

The blockchain analytics platform, Lookonchain, reported today that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has continued selling ETH, with his cumulative sales reaching 17,196 ETH worth of $34.96 million.

As Buterin’s current total sales already surpass his previously planned sales of 16,384 ETH. On January 30, Buterin shared a post on X and said that the planning isn’t about personal profit or market timing, it’s about funding long-term projects aligned with his vision of Ethereum and broader digital autonomy.

With that, Buterin’s recent excess ETH sales created a discussion on whether additional ETH sales could follow and what the broader strategy behind the transactions could be. According to previous sales data, Buterin sold around 3,788.57 ETH, worth $7.3 million, nearly three days before February 24, while ETH was trading lower at around $1,820.

ETH Market Movements

While writing the article, Ethereum is trading at $2,053.87, as the daily trading volume surged 61.47%, reaching towards $30.78 billion, which outperforms Bitcoin, XRP, and BNB. With that, it has increased by around 4% over the past week. But, in the broader sense, the price remains weak by 30% down over the month.

Ethereum’s total liquidations in the last 24 hours are $203.29 million, of which the majority were wiped out through short positions around $176.56 million, which indicates that bearish traders were largely caught. Meanwhile, open interest has climbed nearly 16%, pointing to a significant increase in active futures contracts.

Even during these gains, ETHZilla announced that it will rebrand as Forum Markets, shifting to a treasury-focused model centered on holding Ethereum, as the move follows a slump in crypto prices that caused the company’s shares to collapse.

Highlighted Crypto News:

Investors Show Increased Risk Appetite After BTC Price Nears $69k

TagsCryptocurrencyETHvitalik Buterin

Related Questions

QHow much ETH did Vitalik Buterin sell, and what was its total value?

AVitalik Buterin sold 17,196 ETH, with a total value of $34.96 million.

QWhat reason did Vitalik Buterin give for his ETH sales according to his post on X?

AHe stated that the sales were not for personal profit or market timing, but to fund long-term projects aligned with his vision for Ethereum and broader digital autonomy.

QWhat was the price of Ethereum at the time the article was written, and what was its 24-hour trading volume?

AAt the time of writing, Ethereum was trading at $2,053.87, with a 24-hour trading volume of $30.78 billion.

QWhat was the total value of liquidations in the Ethereum market in the last 24 hours, and what type of positions made up the majority?

AThe total value of liquidations was $203.29 million, with the majority ($176.56 million) being short positions.

QWhat significant company announcement was made regarding Ethereum during this period?

AETHZilla announced it would rebrand as Forum Markets and shift to a treasury-focused model centered on holding Ethereum.

Related Reads

How Many Tokens Away Is Yang Zhilin from the 'Moon Chasing the Light'?

The article explores the intense competition between two leading Chinese AI companies, DeepSeek and Kimi (Moon Dark Side), and the mounting pressure on Yang Zhilin, the founder of Kimi. While DeepSeek re-emerged after 15 months of silence with its powerful V4 model—boasting 1.6 trillion parameters and low-cost, long-context capabilities—Kimi has been focusing on long-context processing and multi-agent systems with its K2.6 model. Yang faces a threefold challenge: technological rivalry, commercialization pressure, and investor expectations. Despite Kimi’s high valuation (reaching $18 billion), its revenue heavily relies on a single product with low paid conversion rates, while DeepSeek’s strategic silence and open-source influence have strengthened its market position and valuation prospects, now targeting over $20 billion. Both companies reflect broader trends in China’s AI ecosystem: Kimi aims for global influence through open-source contributions and agent-based advancements, while DeepSeek prioritizes foundational innovation and hardware independence, notably shifting to Huawei’s chips. Their competition is seen as vital for China’s AI progress, with the gap between top Chinese and U.S. models narrowing to just 2.7% on the Elo rating scale. Ultimately, the article argues that this rivalry, though anxiety-inducing for leaders like Zhilin, is essential for driving innovation and solidifying China’s role in the global AI landscape.

marsbit5m ago

How Many Tokens Away Is Yang Zhilin from the 'Moon Chasing the Light'?

marsbit5m ago

TechFlow Intelligence Bureau: ChatGPT Helps Amateur Mathematician Crack 60-Year-Old Problem, CFTC Sues New York Regulator Over Coinbase and Gemini

An amateur mathematician, with the assistance of ChatGPT, has solved a combinatorial mathematics puzzle originally proposed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in the 1960s. This marks another milestone in AI-aided mathematical research, demonstrating the evolving capabilities of large language models in formal reasoning. In other AI developments, OpenAI introduced a new privacy filter tool for enterprise API usage, automatically screening sensitive data. Meanwhile, the Qwen3.6-27B model achieved 100 tokens per second on a single RTX 5090 GPU using quantization, significantly lowering the cost barrier for local AI deployment. In crypto and Web3, the U.S. CFTC sued New York’s financial regulator, challenging its oversight of Coinbase and Gemini—a first-of-its-kind federal-state regulatory clash. Following a vulnerability, KelpDAO and major DeFi protocols established a recovery fund. Tether froze $344 million in assets linked to Iran’s central bank upon U.S. Treasury request, highlighting the centralized control risks in stablecoins. Separately, Litecoin underwent a 3-hour chain reorganization to undo a privacy-layer exploit. In the U.S., former President Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to address power grid bottlenecks affecting AI data centers and dismissed the entire National Science Board, raising concerns over research independence. A retail trader gained 250% on a $600k Intel options bet amid AI-related speculation. Xiaomi announced its first performance electric vehicle, targeting rivals like Tesla. Meanwhile, iPhone users reported devices automatically reinstalling a hidden app daily, suspected to be MDM-related. A Chinese securities report noted that A-share institutional crowding has reached its second-longest streak since 2007, signaling high valuations and potential style rotation. The day’s developments reflect a dual narrative: AI is enabling unprecedented individual breakthroughs, while centralized power structures—whether governmental or corporate—are becoming more assertive, underscoring that decentralization is as much a political-economic challenge as a technical one.

marsbit28m ago

TechFlow Intelligence Bureau: ChatGPT Helps Amateur Mathematician Crack 60-Year-Old Problem, CFTC Sues New York Regulator Over Coinbase and Gemini

marsbit28m ago

Trading

Spot
Futures

Hot Articles

Discussions

Welcome to the HTX Community. Here, you can stay informed about the latest platform developments and gain access to professional market insights. Users' opinions on the price of ETH (ETH) are presented below.

活动图片