Another Vitalik Buterin funded wallet dumps 1,300 ETH in 11 days

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As a seasoned researcher with a penchant for unraveling the mysteries of the blockchain world, I find myself intrigued by this latest development involving Vitalik Buterin and his wallet transactions. On one hand, it’s not unusual for someone as influential as Buterin to have significant funds moving in and out of his accounts. Yet, the sheer volume of Ether sold in such a short span has raised eyebrows within the crypto community.

A wallet linked to Vitalik Buterin has sold over $3 million worth of ether in the past 11 days.

On September 30th, as per Spot On Chain’s analytics, there was a transfer of approximately 649 Ether (equivalent to around $1.72 million) to the cryptocurrency exchange Paxos. This transaction signified the end of a sequence of sales that followed after the wallet in question received funding from one of Ethereum‘s co-founders.

Wallet with the identifier “0x556” received approximately 1,300 Ether (equivalent to around $3.21 million) on September 19 from wallet “0xd04”. It is believed that this wallet is managed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. According to reports, “0xd04” was initially funded by Buterin himself in the year 2022, when he transferred about 70,000 Ether to it.

It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t a unique occurrence; these digital wallets have previously moved funds between them. As per blockchain records, “0xd04” transferred approximately 2,000 ETH, which was equivalent to around $5.265 million on September 2023, following an earlier transaction of 999 ETH, valued at roughly $2.63 million, in the same month.

Last month, too, there was a transaction involving 1701 ETH, worth approximately $4.47 million. This addition brings the total amount of Ether received so far to 5,999 ETH.

As of now, “0x556” has not been confirmed as belonging to Vitalik Buterin, however, on September 12, 2023, Spot On Chain suggested that the Ethereum co-founder might have been involved in the transfer of more than 2,000 ETH to Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange.

🚨 Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, sent another 2,000 ETH ($3.12M) from address 0xD04 to 0x556 about 9 hours ago.So far, it appears that he might have deposited 2,002 ETH ($3.33M) into Bitstamp and sold 100 ETH for approximately 173,000 USDC since August 25 (over 18 days ago), using address 0x556.👉 Learn more…— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 12, 2023

Although some consider moves like these as potential profit-making strategies by Buterin, he himself has refuted such claims and emphasized that he hasn’t personally profited from selling ETH since 2018.

At the start of this month, questions arose regarding some transactions involving 3,800 ETH sent to another wallet by Buterin in August. This wallet subsequently transferred these funds in several installments. Later on, Buterin explained that these sales were actually carried out by a “bio-defense group” he financially supports.

Previously mentioned, he noted that the proceeds from all Ethereum (ETH) sales tied to his accounts were intended for two main reasons: either to back projects within the Ethereum ecosystem that he considers worthy, or for charitable endeavors.

As a researcher delving into the Ethereum ecosystem, I’ve noticed a growing discontent among the community regarding recent sell-offs. Moreover, Ethereum’s co-founder has faced criticism for exerting too much control over Ethereum’s trajectory. Remarkably, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, compared Ethereum’s governance model to a “dictatorship,” suggesting that its direction is heavily influenced by key decisions made by the co-founder.

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2024-09-30 11:37