Vitalik Buterin dumps assorted memecoins for $96k ETH

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is back in the spotlight for offloading a new batch of memecoins, reigniting discussions around his stance on the sector.

Vitalik Buterin has drawn renewed industry attention after selling off several memecoins. According to data from Lookonchain, Buterin sold tokens such as DOJO, SPURDO, and MARVIN on Uniswap, exchanging them for about 22.14 ETH, worth roughly $96,400.

The dumped tokens are part of a variety of memecoins sent to the Ethereum co-founder for free, and the sales suggest efforts to trim down lesser-known or low-liquidity holdings.

Shortly after the sales, Buterin transferred 70 ETH, about $304,000, to an unnamed wallet, routing the funds through the RAILGUN privacy protocol as reported by another on-chain tracker.

The connection between the sales and the subsequent transfers remains unconfirmed, but the timing has drawn attention within the crypto community, given Buterin’s previous use of privacy tools to manage wallet activity.

Vitalik Buterin’s broader pattern of memecoin dumps

While the specific reasons behind Buterin’s latest sale remain unclear, it fits a pattern seen in his past actions. Over the years, the co-founder has often found himself on the receiving end of unsolicited memecoins, sent by new projects in an attempt to leverage his prominent brand and influence to spark interest in their tokens. 

Buterin has made it clear in the past that he does not wish to receive such tokens and has urged projects to either refrain from sending them or to donate the assets to charity instead. This behavior can be traced back to 2021 when Buterin was gifted an astonishing $7 billion worth of Shiba Inu tokens by the project’s creator, Ryoshi. 

At that time, Buterin donated $1 billion towards COVID-19 relief efforts in India and subsequently burned the rest of the tokens. Buterin has also maintained a critical stance toward memecoins, arguing that most of them lack any real utility. He has instead called for ‘higher quality’ meme coins that offer some genuine value beyond mere speculation.