Vitalik Buterin sold half of his bitcoins to avoid going broke

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that he sold part of his holdings of the first cryptocurrency in 2013. According to him, this move helped reduce financial risk in case the asset’s price fell.

7 years ago, before ethereum even began, I had only a few thousand dollars of net worth. I nevertheless sold half my bitcoin to make sure that I would not be broke if BTC went to zero.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 14, 2020

Buterin stated that before creating Ethereum he had “only a few thousand dollars of net worth”.

“Nevertheless, I sold half of my bitcoins to be sure I would not go broke if the price fell to zero,” he wrote.

This post was preceded by Buterin’s request not to take loans to buy Ethereum or other assets. He attached to the post a screenshot of a tweet with the author’s name obscured, who wrote about the decision to take out a loan of $46,250 at 7.9% to buy 2.55 BTC.

“In 2026 I will have to repay $57,806.85. In December 2026, with Bitcoin at $22,669.35 I will break even. Good or bad decision?”, asked the user.

Please don’t do things like this. I would NEVER recommend anyone take out a personal loan to buy ETH or other ethereum assets. pic.twitter.com/zCbbtUlvtQ

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 14, 2020

In comments, Peter McCormack, host of a popular Bitcoin podcast, said that he is the author of the post, and that Buterin does not need to hide it.

I took out a $46,250 loan today at 7.9% and bought 2.55 #bitcoin. By 2026 I will have to pay back $57,806.85.

In Dec 2026, If #bitcoin is at $22,669.35 I break even.

Good/bad decision?

— Peter McCormack 👑 (@PeterMcCormack) December 11, 2020

“I agree with Vitalik; I would NEVER recommend anyone take out a loan to buy Ethereum or other assets,” McCormack noted.

That is me, you don’t have to hide me.

Also, I agree with Vitalik, I would NEVER recommend anyone takes out a personal loan to buy ETH or other ethereum assets.

— Peter McCormack 👑 (@PeterMcCormack) December 14, 2020

In August, Buterin said that had not bought Bitcoin since 2017, and that he sold his Ethereum holdings when the price was $700.

Subscribe to ForkLog’s channel on YouTube!