Vitalik Buterin Denies Allegations of Selling ETH for Profit: ‘I Do Not Intend to Invest in L2s

Transparency has been a key business ideal in the crypto space and a lack of transparency from any crypto firm or crypto executive can create bad blood for investors and everyday users. Last month, the Ethereum co-founder was accused of making a move that opposes his positive remarks on the future of Ethereum.

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum was accused by the social media user of making a profit of $2 million from the sales of ETH after the crypto chief had made positive remarks about the future of ETH leading holders to keep theirs. Corroborating the claim of the social media user, Lookonchain traced a transfer to a wallet. The transfer entailed 800 Ethereum worth about 2 million US dollars and the source of the transfer had Vitalik’s name on it. It was revealed that not long after about 190 Ethereums in the wallet were later converted into USDC tokens.

Lookonchain further confirmed that there was even a larger transfer in ETH from Vitalik Buterin to the same wallet. According to Lookonchain’s report, $8 million worth of Ethereum (3,000 ETH) was transferred to the wallet by Vitalik.

Reacting to this, the co-founder denied the allegations that the transfers were initiated for profit sake. He stated that 2018 was the last time he made a profiting venture out of his ETH assets. He went further to explain that the transfers were not part of any plans to invest in L2 (layer 2) tokens, rather they were to support charitable projects or public goods in the ETH ecosystem. A few days into September, Vitalik threw more light on his earlier statements mentioning that every L2 token in his stash would be liquidated and the funds donated to important projects. 

His response to the allegations have quelled popular belief that the co-founder is converting his ETH assets into liquid funds for profit. It’s worth noting that Vitalik’s recent move is one in a succession of ETH liquidating moves that has seen his total Ethereum holdings come down from 460,000 to 240,000.