[Vitalik Buterin donates over $500,000 in animal-themed tokens to charity]
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently revealed that he had donated all of the animal-themed meme coins he received last year to a charity focused on animal welfare.
On August 15, Buterin said on the He also called on the memecoin community to donate the cryptocurrencies they intend to give him directly to charity, and suggested more full-blown public benefit funding from 2024 onwards.
The donation was motivated by a meme coin project called Neiro on ETH (NEIRO). The project attempted to leverage Buterin's influence to gain attention, and when he sold the tokens, the price initially fell by 60% before rising by 200%. Neiro's team asked Buterin to donate a portion of the proceeds to a stray dog shelter, and he later shared a donation receipt, confirming that the donation had been made.
Buterin has previously criticized celebrity meme coins, arguing that such tokens lack substance and purpose. He emphasized that financialization should serve the public good and praised Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis’ Stoner Cats project, which funded an animated show through NFTs.
