Did Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Short Ethereum? Unraveling A 70,000 ETH Sale

A video has surfaced on social media where Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin revealed he sold 70,000 ETH tokens during its price all-time high. 

Buterin Acknowledges Shorting Ethereum

Crypto community member, MetaMan X, published a video post on X (formerly Twitter), disclosing a conversation where Ethereum Founder, Vitalik Buterin admitted that he had sold about 70,000 ETH tokens, essentially shorting the cryptocurrency during a major all-time high. 

In the podcast with American hedge fund director, Eric Ross Weinstein, Buterin spoke on the price of Ethereum and Bitcoin in 2017. During Ethereum’s previous all-time high in 2017, when the price of ETH rose as high as $1,600 and Bitcoin’s price was up $20,000, Buterin voiced doubts about whether the significant price surge truly aligned with the crypto market’s modest achievements over the years. 

“The crypto space has reached half a trillion dollars, does it deserve it?” Buterin stated. 

When asked if he had shorted Ethereum during the all-time high, Buterin stated that he had convinced the Ethereum Foundation to sell a considerable amount of ETH tokens, and the result of the decision made a huge impact on the cryptocurrency later.

“I did get the Ethereum Foundation to sell 70,000 ETH like basically at the top, and that’s doubled our runway now, so it was one good decision that had a lot of impact,” Buterin said. 

ETH price at $1,886 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com

Community Worries Over Buterin’s ETH Sell-Offs

Many crypto community members have raised concerns about the multiple ETH transactions said to be conducted by Ethereum’s founder. Recently, Buterin was spotted making a transfer of 100 ETH, worth about $181,000 to Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. 

The motive behind the transaction has sparked curiosity among Ethereum investors and the crypto community. Earlier in August, Buterin was also reported moving 600 ETH worth $1 million to Coinbase. 

However, the Ethereum Founder had publicly clarified in October that he had not sold any ETH tokens for personal gain since 2018. He also stated that most ETH transactions were not him selling, but rather the recipients of his charitable donations selling the ETH tokens. 

The founder has also been caught in controversy over the weekend when Ethereum whistleblower Steven Nerayoff alleged that Buterin was involved in some sort of fraud involving ETH.

Nerayoff says Ethereum is linked to corrupt SEC officials to carry out this fraud which he says is on a larger scale than what happened with FTX. For reference, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of fraud charges after the exchange filed for bankruptcy in 2022 with a $9 billion hold in its balance sheet.

Featured image from Crypto News, chart from Tradingview.com