The co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain, Vitalik Buterin, has refuted claims that he recently sold some of his interests in digital assets. Buterin warned his followers not to believe stories that falsely claim his gifts to humanitarian organizations are sales of cryptocurrency in a social media post on the decentralized social network Warpcast.
The incident took place following his recent transfer of over $14 million worth of USD Coin (USDC) from his wallet, known as “Vitalik. eth,” to the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange on October 16 – as per the revelations from blockchain analytics company PeckShield.
The Ethereum co-founder’s affiliate charity named ‘Kanro’, which is connected to these media stories, allegedly shifted 15.43 million USDC coins to a multi-signature wallet just days before Buterin’s comments. The facts and figures as gleaned from the data reports show that Kanro had, in reality, made two payments – one to Coinbase (for 500,000 USDC coins) and one to Gemini (for 14.93 million), according to the media details. This information does seem to suggest that Vitalik Buterin hasn’t sold ETH since 2018.
Attention-hungry Sensationalism
Many internet users and even news agencies have been spreading the word that the movements of digital tokens, as effectuated by Buterin, were all corrupt dealings garbed under the pretense of good Samaritanism. The ETH co-founder, however, asserted that he had not sold any of his ETH stakes in the previous five-year time period and also made a declaratory post on Warpcast on October 17, eloquently explaining and reasoning the same. He thinks that such phony rumors are the results of wilful misinterpretations and misrepresentations aimed at spinning clickbait gossip to defame him.
Most netizens were pointing out that Vitalik Buterin hasn’t sold ETH since 2018, being convinced by the facts presented before them. To quell any further doubts, Vitalik reminded the public of his selfless contribution towards humanitarian causes. In the social media post, he warned, “If you see an article saying ‘Vitalik sends XXX ETH to [exchange],’ it’s not 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. I haven’t ‘sold’ ETH for personal gain since 2018.”
Buterin’s Philanthropy Emphasized
Some Warpcast users who believe that Vitalik Buterin hasn’t sold ETH since 2018 responded to Buterin’s message by agreeing with him that the majority of media accounts have mischaracterized the gifts as disposals. Others charged that the media purposefully published false news to drive attention to their websites. However, there remains a slight possibility that Buterin might just have implicitly, in an underhanded fashion, admitted to really selling off a section of his ETH holdings for pecuniary interests, as one user suggested in his message.
Buterin, who identified Kanro as his “entity,” expressed his wish to support Covid research projects in a post he made on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on June 8, 2023. At the time, Buterin disclosed that a community-run fund called Crypto Relief had “put in 90M USDC from the original $SHIB donation.” Following that, he promised to donate USDC10 million out of his funds.
It is to be noted that Buterin’s defensive post on Tuesday was made in reaction to several canards and bruits that were spreading in the cryptocurrency community, all alleging that he had been selling ETH and other assets worth millions of dollars.
The debate dates back to December 2017 when Vitalik Buterin made headlines by famously selling off a substantial portion of his Bitcoin assets, totaling about $50 million. The Ethereum market at the time was significantly impacted by this action. Buterin’s current message stresses that this was his only final attempt to sell his cryptocurrency assets for profit.
Also Read: Tesla Maintains Bitcoin Holdings While AI Becomes a Corporate Priority.
