Vitalik Buterin sells $300k of memes & USDT to buy ETH

Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum wallet made a significant transaction yesterday, converting several meme coins and Tether’s USDT into ETH. Over the past year, various meme token developers had sent these tokens unsolicited to Buterin’s wallet.

• On October 5, Buterin offloaded four tokens, earning 140.67 ETH, valued at around $341,000. Blockchain analysis platform Lookonchain noted that he sold 11.76 billion Moodeng tokens for 21 ETH (about $51,000) and 70.72 million Neiro for $72,400.
• Additional sales included 7.8 million Degen for 25 ETH (roughly $61,000) and 16 billion Kabosu tokens for 22.94 ETH (around $56,000). He also swapped 101,000 USDT for 41.69 ETH.

Afterward, Buterin sent 100 ETH (around $242,000) to the “Free Alexey & Roman” campaign, which supports the legal defense of Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm. Whether these funds came from his recent sales or elsewhere is unclear, though Buterin’s history of converting meme coin holdings for charitable donations aligns with this move.

Previously, Buterin sold a large number of animal meme tokens, donating $532,000 to the Animal Welfare Fund under the Effective Altruism initiative. Notably, one token he sold recently had asked him to donate proceeds to the same cause. Despite this, Buterin has expressed disapproval of receiving unsolicited tokens and suggested creators donate directly to charity.