Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been in the spotlight for the last few weeks for the 950 ETH selloff from an address associated with him.
The sales have sparked concerns among investors who found the transactions suspicious despite Buterin’s previous explanations. Following the latest sale, Buterin clarified the selling details and offered some relief to the community.
Ethereum Founder’s Moves Raise Concerns
In August, Vitalik Buterin made large-scale ETH transfers to a multisig wallet linked to him. The transfers raised concerns among investors who worried a selloff could add further selling pressure to the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization in an already volatile market.
As reported by Bitcoinist, Ethereum’s co-founder initially sent 3,000 ETH, worth around $8.04 million at the time, to the multisig wallet on August 9. 20 days later, Buterin sent another 800 ETH, valued at $2.01 million, to the same address. The multisig then swapped 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC.
After the news, the crypto community heavily criticized Buterin, claiming that the project’s founder was “bullposting while dumping” on the community. Others shared a pessimistic outlook about the future of ETH’s price since developers were “dumping on us.”
However, a few investors considered the backlash unwarranted and that there’s “nothing wrong with taking profits once in a while.” Buterin replied to these claims, affirming that he does not sell tokens for personal profit.
In an X post, Ethereum’s founder explained that all sales since 2018 have been done to support various projects he considers valuable. These include projects within the Ethereum ecosystem or broader charity, like biomedical research and development.
A week later, he clarified that the same principle applied to Layer-2 tokens or any other project tokens he held, and all sales from those tokens would be donated to public goods.
Ethereum's performance in the weekly chart. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView
Is Vitalik Done Selling?
Despite clarifying the nature of these sales, the crypto community worried again when news of another sale was shared. On-chain data analysis firm Lookonchain reported on September 11 that the multisig associated with Buterin had sold another 190 ETH on Wednesday morning.
The report revealed that the transaction, valued at 441,971 USDC, was the latest in a series of sales. Since August 30, Ethereum’s founder, multisig has sold 950 ETH, worth $2.27 million, at an average price of $2,396.
The 950 ETH selloff was divided into five smaller transactions of 190 ETH each, every three days. After the latest transaction, Buterin deposited the proceedings from the 950 ETH to the decentralized protocol Aave.
The news alarmed some users, who, once again, criticized Buterin for selling while simultaneously bullposting. Moreover, some questioned his previous explanation, suggesting it might not be 100% true.
In another X post, he addressed investors’ concern, 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.
Buterin clarifies his recent moves. Source: Vitalik Buterin on X
The order was set up on August 29 but was executed on Wednesday, implying that the other four sales had a similar setup. Additionally, Buterin stated that it “was the last one,” hinting that, for the time being, investors should not worry about further dumping related to the orders.
As of this writing, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap trades at $2,348, a modest 0.2% surge in the last 24 hours.
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