Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has attracted attention recently due to the sale of 950 ETH from an address connected to him.
These transactions have raised concerns among investors who found them questionable, despite Buterin’s earlier explanations. After the latest sale, he provided more details to ease the community’s worries.
Concerns Surrounding Ethereum Co-founder’s Transactions
In August, Buterin conducted significant ETH transfers to a multisig wallet he operates. This activity alarmed investors, who feared it might increase selling pressure on Ethereum, which is already experiencing market volatility.
As reported by Bitrabo, on August 9, Buterin transferred 3,000 ETH, approximately $8.04 million at that time, to the multisig wallet. Another 800 ETH, worth around $2.01 million, followed on August 29. Subsequently, the multisig exchanged 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC.
Following these events, there was backlash from the crypto community, accusing Buterin of “bullposting while dumping” on investors. Some expressed a negative sentiment about ETH’s future, fearing that developers were offloading their holdings.
Conversely, some investors argued that such profit-taking is reasonable. Buterin responded, affirming that he does not sell ETH for personal enrichment.
In a post on X, Buterin explained that all sales since 2018 were intended to finance valuable projects he supports, including charitable causes like biomedical research and initiatives within the Ethereum ecosystem.
A week later, he clarified that the same rationale applied to sales of Layer-2 and other project tokens, with proceeds devoted to public goods.
Are Buterin’s Sales Finished?
Despite his clarifications, the crypto community grew concerned again with news of yet another sale. On September 11, the on-chain analysis firm Lookonchain reported that the multisig wallet linked to Buterin had sold an additional 190 ETH.
This recent transaction, valued at 441,971 USDC, was part of a larger trend. Since August 30, Buterin’s multisig has sold a total of 950 ETH, amounting to $2.27 million, at an average price of $2,396.
These 950 ETH were sold in five smaller batches of 190 ETH, occurring every three days. Following these transactions, Buterin deposited the proceeds into the decentralized platform Aave.
This information unsettled some in the community, who again criticized Buterin for his sales amidst optimistic messaging. Others questioned the truthfulness of his previous explanations.
In another post on X, he addressed these concerns, stating that the latest sale resulted from an “automatic cowswap twap order” initiated by a bio-defense group he supports.
This order was configured on August 29 and executed recently, suggesting that previous sales may have been arranged similarly. Furthermore, Buterin indicated that this would be the final sale for now, suggesting that investors need not worry about additional selling related to these orders.
Currently, the price of Ethereum sits at $2,348, reflecting a slight increase of 0.2% over the past day.
