Lookonchain, an on-chain analyst, had revealed that Vitalik Buterin sold 3000 ETH on August 9th after a crypto community member said the Ethereum founder had made $2 million in profit from a sell-off spree. Following the news, many community members debated whether it was right for Buterin to make such profits from his own token. Shortly after the discussions went viral on the social media platform X, Buterin defended himself.
He quickly replied to the tweets on August 31 and came clean, saying, “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)”.
BTW the above also applies to L2 tokens or other project tokens I hold (incl not-yet-liquid): all proceeds will be donated, again either to support public goods within the ethereum ecosystem or broader charity (eg. biomedical R&D).
I also do not intend to invest into L2s or…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 5, 2024
On September 6th, the 30-year-old Thiel Fellowship awardee further clarified that he wishes to keep investing his proceeds to help out ‘undervalued’ projects in the Web3 ecosystem. While Buternin did support L2 tokens and other projects in the past, he does not see himself contributing his profits to any L2 tokens or projects in the near future. Buterin invested in MegaETH, a Layer 2 solution on Ethereum that can process transactions over 100,000 TPS, in June.
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Apart from Megadeth, Buterin has also been known to have invested in Optimism, ZKSync, and Starknet. While Buterin has not yet clarified the other companies where he has invested, he expressed his interest in amplifying little-known projects and roll-ups, stating “solid work happening” in roll-ups.
