Crypto: Vitalik Sells 17k ETH In One Month After Earmarking $45m For Privacy

Arkham data shows the Ethereum co-founder’s attributed wallets fell from about 241,000 ETH to 224,000 ETH this month.

Buterin’s wallets tracked by Arkham held about 241,000 Ether (ETH) in early February, before a series of outflows reduced the combined balance to 224,000 ETH on Tuesday.

The reduction comes amid continued selling by Buterin, including about 2,961 Ether worth $6.6 million over a three-day period earlier in the month. Onchain analysts reported that this accelerated recently as he sold $7 million worth of tokens in the past three days.

Arkham Intelligence data shows the ETH sales were routed via decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator CoW Protocol using numerous smaller swaps instead of one large transaction, a method typically employed to minimize market impact.

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Buterin described the effort as aligned with the Ethereum Foundation entering a period of “mild austerity,” while maintaining its technical roadmap. He added he would personally take on initiatives that might otherwise be handled by the foundation, focusing on building a full open-source software and hardware stack to protect both digital and real-world environments.

“Specifically, we are seeking the existence of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware that can protect both our personal lives and our public environments,” he wrote.

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Buterin’s ETH selling coincided with a sharp drop in the price of Ether, which has lost over 37% of its value over the past month, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The token was trading at $1,825.39 on publication, down by nearly 5% over the past day.

The weak price performance comes as more than 30% of Ether’s supply remains locked in staking. While staking yields have declined to about 2.8%, validator demand is still strong, with a near-record entry queue and minimal exits, according to data from DropsTab.

Source: CoinTelegraph