Buterin-backed Wallet Dumps 1,300 ETH in 11 Days

In the past 11 days, a wallet associated with Vitalik Buterin has sold a total of over $3 million in ether

Analytics platform Spot On Chain reported a transfer of 649 ETH (approximately $1.72 million) to cryptocurrency exchange Paxos on September 30.

The transaction concluded a sales sequence initiated after the Ethereum co-founder financed the wallet in question.

On September September 19et, identified as “0x556,” received 1,300 ETH ($3.21 million) from “0xd04,” an Ethereum wallet purportedly under the custody of Buterin. According to reports, the crypto pioneer transmitted 70,000 ETH to “0xd04” in 2022.

It is worth noting that this was not the initial instance in which these accounts exchanged funds. Based on on-chain data, “0xd04” transferred 2,000 ETH, valued at $5.265 million, in September 2023.

This transaction was preceded by a 999 ETH transfer valued at $2.63 million that same month.

In the interim, an additional 1701 ETH transfer valued at $4.47 million was executed the previous month, increasing the total ether received to date to 5,999 ETH.

Spot On Chain speculated in a post on Sept. 12, 2023, that the September 12 co-founder was responsible for the transfer of over 2,000 ETH to crypto exchange Bitstamp, although “0x556” had not been identified as Buterin’s at the time of press.

Buterin has publicly denied these allegations and reiterated that he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018, even though many view transfers like these as his attempts at profit.

Earlier this month, the concerns were raised when another wallet, which received 3,800 ETH from Buterin in August, was observed to clear the funds across multiple transfers. Nevertheless, Buterin promptly clarified that the transactions were conducted by a “bio-defense group” he finances.

In a previous post, he stated that all ETH sales funded by accounts associated with him were intended to either support Ethereum ecosystem initiatives that he considered valuable or for philanthropic purposes.

In addition to community apprehensions regarding these sales, the Ethereum co-founder has recently faced criticism for exerting excessive control over Ethereum’s direction.

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, compared Ethereum’s governance model to a “dictatorship” that is influenced by Buterin’s critical decisions.