Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Sells Free Coins, Earns $700,000
The founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has made headlines after selling a significant amount of free tokens from various projects, including CULT, SHIK, and MOPS, for a total of around $700,000 USD. The move caused the price of SHIK to plummet by over 95%. Buterin is known for creating the Ethereum platform, which has been used by numerous projects as their foundation.
vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) is selling his free shitcoins.
Currently sold 50B $MOPS for 1.25 $ETH($2K), sold 10B $CULT for 58 $ETH($91K), sold 500T $SHIK for 380 $ETH($600K).https://t.co/SboWZsO8WY pic.twitter.com/xNaRTeVM7K
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 7, 2023
It’s common for token creators to send a portion of the total token supply to Vitalik’s wallet as a way to show gratitude or attract attention from the community. It can also demonstrate that the project can operate smoothly. One of the most well-known examples is Shiba Inu (SHIB), which intentionally sent 50% of its total supply to Buterin, causing SHIB’s price to soar by over 100% and earning Buterin a profit of $8 billion USD.
Despite this, Buterin has now sold off a significant amount of these tokens to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts in India. In response to the token senders, Buterin has issued a warning not to send coins or make decisions regarding their projects without his consent.
Despite his warning, other project creators continue to send tokens to his wallet. Recently, Buterin sold a large amount of these airdropped tokens, including 50 billion MOPS for 1.25 ETH, 10 billion CULT for 58 ETH, and 500 trillion SHIK for 380 ETH. Interestingly, the 500 trillion SHIK sold by Buterin is half of the total SHIK supply of the Shikoku Inu project, which also sent half of its total supply to Buterin and encouraged him to burn them.
The Shikoku Inu project even launched a contest urging the community to send messages to Buterin, requesting him to burn the SHIK tokens he received. It remains to be seen how SHIK’s price will react to the sale of half of its total supply. CULT’s price also dropped by 14% due to the pressure of Buterin’s sell-off.
@VitalikButerin has sold all the #SHIK allocated to him today, that we asked him very kindly to burn and donate. Confirm below.https://t.co/425wf5qOt6https://t.co/vNfM6niHIPhttps://t.co/BCkLFPldfs
Although it may be a painful time for the community now… 🧵 (1/?)
— Shikoku! (@shikokuinucoin) March 7, 2023
In summary, Buterin’s decision to sell off these tokens and donate the proceeds to a good cause has generated significant attention in the cryptocurrency community. While many token creators continue to send coins to his wallet, Buterin’s warning may encourage them to seek his consent before doing so in the future. The market’s reaction to his token sell-off also highlights the power and influence that founders and early adopters can have on these projects.
Read more:
- Vitalik Buterin Reflects On Cryptocurrency Payment Failures And The Need For Better UX
- Ethereum Wallet Has Been Holding ETH Since ICO In 2014, Has Not Sold Single Ether; Here’s The Reason