Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has denied selling millions of dollars of Ether (ETH) for profit, saying the sale was to support various crypto projects and charitable causes, Cointelegraph reported.
On August 30, a crypto community member accused Buterin on X of selling more than $2 million worth of Ether (800 ETH) after posting a bullish tweet. On-chain analysis company Lookonchain further pointed out that the same wallet address received 3,000 ETH from Buterin on August 9.
On August 31, Buterin responded to a post on X supporting him selling some of his ETH for profit. He stated that since 2018, he has never sold ETH for profit, but to support various Web3 projects and charities.
“I have not sold and retained the proceeds since 2018. All sales have been to support projects I believe are worthy, both within the Ethereum ecosystem and more broadly philanthropic (e.g. biomedical R&D),” Buterin said.
Community members widely support Buterin selling ETH for profit. One user X said: "No need to defend yourself, you deserve a yacht too."
Buterin also recently defended Ethereum against claims that the blockchain “doesn’t care” about decentralized finance. Kain Warwick, the inventor of the yield farming concept, said Buterin is not an maximalist and does not consider himself invulnerable when it comes to DeFi.
Buterin stressed that he wants to see useful and sustainable applications while adhering to the network’s two core principles — permissionlessness and decentralization. He added that he has no respect for things whose appeal comes from some temporary source that has no sustainability.
