In a recent tweet, Ethereum's co-founder Vitalik Buterin provided important clarification regarding his ETH holdings. Addressing speculation and rumors, Buterin reiterated that he has not sold any ETH for personal gain since 2018. Instead, he has used the proceeds from any sales to support various projects that he believes are valuable, both within the Ethereum ecosystem and in broader charitable endeavors.
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)
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 31, 2024
Buterin wrote in response to speculations of selling ETH for profits, "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 (e.g., biomedical R&D)."
Along these lines, Wu blockchain cited the Ethereum's creator statement, which was reportedly made on Warpcast: "If you see an article saying Vitalik sends XXX ETH to exchange, it's not actually 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."
Vitalik Buterin's ETH holdings
Wu blockchain referred to Buterin's comment on Reddit about three years ago, stating that the ETH he owned is from that generated at premine, of which he received about 700,000 ETH.
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Nearly 12 million ETH, representing about 10% of the network supply, was generated at Genesis and set aside for early project contributors to Ethereum and the Ethereum Foundation (EF), a non-profit corporation established to oversee Ethereum development. These early contributors include Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, who received his ETH stash as compensation for his contributions.
According to on-chain data sources, Buterin currently holds about 240,000 ETH, about 423,000 ETH less than his initial stash.
Bringing it to three years back, on-chain data provider Lookonchain speculates that the Ethereum creator has reduced his ETH holdings by nearly 85,000 ETH worth $209 million. Three years ago, Buterin, according to Lookonchain, mentioned he held 325,000 ETH worth $1.46 billion when the price of ETH was $4,500. Buterin now holds 240,000 ETH, which represents an 85,000 ETH reduction within three years.
