Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin caused a stir in the crypto community today, but not with a tweet, but with the sale of several unknown meme coins. Both on-chain data provider Lookonchain and blockchain security company PeckShield have reported the transactions.
Lookonchain revealed via Twitter on March 7 that Vitalik Buterin is selling off “his free shitcoins.” So far, the Ethereum co-founder has sold 50 billion MOPS for 1.25 ETH (about $2,000), 10 billion CULT for 58 ETH (about $91,000) and 500 trillion SHIK for 380 ETH (about $600,000).
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
Security firm PeckShield Alert reported via Twitter that CULT (Cult DAO) has fallen 13.7% since the dump by Buterin. SHIK (SHIKOKU) has been hit even harder, falling -95.8%. The SHIK address tagged with Vitalik Buterin has netted around 164 ETH (around $260,000) and transferred 214 ETH (around $337,000) to EthDev.
According to Etherscan, the address belongs to the Ethereum Foundation and currently has an Ethereum balance of 336,271.54 ETH, worth about $528.18 million.
Remarkably, Buterin has not sold all of his CULT tokens. As crypto Twitter noted, the Ethereum co-founder still owns 10 billion CULT. “Didn’t sell all his CULT tho. Guess he’s holding 10bn as a moon-bag,” one user said.
Crypto Twitter Reacts To Sales From Ethereum Co-Founder
The crypto community on Twitter has been mostly disappointed by the action of Ethereum mastermind Buterin. The backdrop is that altcoins were largely illiquid cryptocurrencies, and thus the dump had a massive impact on low-value projects and the investors who own them.
Others are upset with projects sending Vitalik free tokens. Meanwhile, Buterin’s motivations for selling the altcoins are unknown.
One user stated that this seems like a strange move, as Buterin is well aware that his sales will have a massive impact on prices. One theory is that his accountant warned him that these tokens would count as income on his tax return, which is why he sold the tokens to cover the costs.
Another theory is that Buterin is fully aware of the impact, as evidenced by the fact that he has done this several times before with other free altcoins. On the Lex Fridman podcast, Buterin explained once that he could put the money to better use elsewhere. In these cases, he has donated the funds, as was the case with Shiba Inu (SHIB), for example.
Buterin Reveals His Favorite DEX?
Meanwhile, another user has pointed out that Buterin may have once again revealed his favorite DEX with the transfers. “Everyone is talking about how Vitalik Buterin dumped CULT and SHIB but no one is mentioning that he did it on CoW Swap,” he said, adding:
Ready for some real alpha? COW token is at only 7 million market cap, and this is the preferred DEX of Vitalik Buterin.
At press time, the Ethereum price resembled that of Bitcoin – moving sideways in a narrow range after dropping sharply on Thursday.
Featured image from Forbes, Chart from TradingView.com