Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum co-founder, addressed critics on Saturday, clarifying his ETH sales since 2018.

“All sales have been to support various projects that I think are valuable, either within the Ethereum ecosystem or broader charity,” Buterin stated in an Aug. 31 post on X.com. He cited biomedical research and development as an example of the causes he supports.

“I haven’t sold and kept the proceeds since 2018. All sales have been to support various projects that I think are valuable, either within the Ethereum ecosystem or broader charity (e.g., biomedical R&D)” — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 31, 2024

Buterin Addresses Accusations

Recently, Buterin transferred 800 ETH (approximately $2.01 million) to a multisig wallet, which then swapped 190 ETH for 477,000 USD Coin, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. This activity caught the attention of the crypto community, leading some to speculate that Buterin was dumping his ETH.

“The way @VitalikButerin is dumping ETH seems like he knows it’s done!” — #BTCPuppet (🦍,🦍) (@BtcPuppet) August 30, 2024

This was the second significant transfer from Buterin’s wallet in August. On Aug. 9, 3000 ETH, worth $8.04 million at the time, were moved to the same multisig wallet.

Buterin clarified that none of his ETH has been sold for personal profit. He emphasized that when ETH from his wallet appears on exchanges, it’s not him selling but the recipients of his donations.

“If you see an article saying ‘Vitalik sends XXX ETH to [exchange],’ it’s not actually me selling, it’s almost always me donating to some charity or nonprofit or other project, and the recipient selling because, well, they have to cover expenses,” he explained.

Buterin’s Commitment to Ethereum

Buterin holds roughly 90% of his net worth in ETH, underscoring his commitment to the digital asset as a store of value. His claims about supporting “various projects” are substantiated. He recently donated 199 ETH (roughly $517,000) to ethOS, a mobile operating system based on the Ethereum blockchain.

In the past three years, Buterin has offloaded over 85,000 ETH ($209 million) from his wallets, according to Lookonchain data. However, one observer disputed this figure, suggesting Buterin holds approximately 272,000 ETH across three addresses and has reduced his holdings by 53,000 ETH in three years.

“Arkham is missing 2 of his addresses. He’s actually holding ~272k ETH across these 3 addresses, reduced his holdings by 53k ETH in 3 years” — ogFaraday (@ogFaraday) August 30, 2024

Buterin also donated 200 ETH to Effective Altruism Funds, an animal welfare initiative, on Aug. 15. In 2021, he donated over 50 trillion SHIB tokens, worth over $1 billion at the time, to the India Covid Relief Fund established by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.

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