Key Points
- Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has been criticized for allegedly selling his ETH holdings, impacting the cryptocurrency’s price.
- Buterin defended himself by stating that his ETH sales are only used to support valuable projects.
Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, has faced backlash from the crypto community for reportedly selling his ETH holdings. This action has been linked to a decrease in ETH’s price.
On a recent Friday, Buterin sold ETH worth over $2 million, which was not well-received by some Ethereum holders and traders. Among the critics was crypto trader CoinMamba, who accused Buterin of selling his holdings shortly after expressing positive sentiments about Ethereum, without addressing the community about his actions.
Buterin’s Defense
In response to the criticism, Buterin stated that his ETH sales are only conducted to support projects he deems valuable. He clarified, “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 (eg. biomedical R&D).”
According to Arkham data, Buterin owns approximately 240k ETH, worth around $600 million. It was revealed that he received about 700k ETH from pre-mine three years ago. This has led the community to speculate that Buterin has sold a significant portion of his holdings, thereby affecting ETH’s value and sentiment.
Crypto analyst Ansem defended Buterin’s actions, arguing that it’s acceptable for him to make some profit from his creation, the second most significant project in crypto history.
Ethereum Foundation’s Expenditure Report
The Ethereum Foundation also faced criticism for selling 35k ETH and recently disclosed its expenditure report in response. Some thought leaders have even called for its dissolution. These clarifications aim to combat the fear, uncertainty, and disinformation (FUD) impacting the altcoin’s sentiment.
Meanwhile, the demand interest for U.S spot ETH ETFs has decreased. Crypto analyst Luke Martin noted that ETH ETF flows have dropped significantly. At the time of writing, ETH was trading near $2.5k, a level it has consolidated around for four days, after retracing from its recent high of $2.8k.
