Vitalik Buterin dumps a batch of tokens in a $700,000 sell-off

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin swapped airdrop-derived tokens for ETH worth about $700,000, sending prices of several coins tumbling.

vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) is selling his free shitcoins.

Currently sold 50B $MOPS for 1.25 $ETH($2K), sold 10B $CULT for 58 $ETH($91K), sold 500T $SHIK for 380 $ETH($600K).https://t.co/SboWZsO8WY pic.twitter.com/xNaRTeVM7K

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 7, 2023

According to Etherscan, he sold through DeFi platforms:

• 500 trillion Shikoku (SHIK) for 380.3 ETH ($595,448);
• approximately 10 billion Cult DAO (CULT) for 58.1 ETH ($91,021);
• 50 billion Mops (MOPS) for 1.25 ETH ($1,950);
• 3.4 million Bite (BITE) for 5.9 ETH ($9,250).

The total SHIK supply stands at one quadrillion, and Buterin sold half of that amount. As a result, the token price collapsed by 95.8%, PeckShield noted.

#PeckShieldAlert $SHIK (SHIKOKU) has dropped -95.8%
Vitalik Buterin-labeled address has dumped ~5T $SHIK, and gained ~164 $ETH (~260k) and transferred 214 $ETH ($337k) to EthDevhttps://t.co/Uw6TA1RDKP pic.twitter.com/FuIbgGgrdA

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 7, 2023

CULT prices did not react as strongly to the large sale, slipping only 13.7%.

#PeckShieldAlert $CULT (Cult DAO) has dropped -13.7%
Vitalik Buterin-labeled address has dumped ~9.9B $CULT for ~58 $ETH ($91.5k) https://t.co/Vq92EO5vDa pic.twitter.com/tc8llKJQ0I

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 7, 2023

The price of MOPS over the last 24 hours has fallen by 26.5%, according to CoinGecko. The altcoin is trading roughly 1,655% above its February 23 minimum.

Users in the comments reminded that Buterin has previously устраивал дамп монет with similar sell-offs. Experts say he could not have failed to understand the consequences of his move.

We have been over this before. Don’t send tokens to Vitalik. I remember 2 years ago being in a dog project and had 45K in it, only for Vitalik to dump the chart 99%. He is ruthless. He did it to all the dog coins.

— Thor | Kirito (@Thorshammergems) March 7, 2023

It is not known what prompted the Ethereum co-founder to unload these tokens. One hypothesis is that he sought to address tax issues related to the airdropped coins.

Seems like a strange move, he is more than aware this would tank prices and drain liquidity. My one assumption is that his accountant warned him these tokens would count as income on his tax sheet. Selling to cover the expense

— SecureZero (@securezero) March 7, 2023

Back in May 2021, Buterin burned 90% of his Shiba Inu holdings, triggering a rise in the token’s price. Before that, the project’s developers transferred more than half of the coin’s issuance—one quadrillion tokens—to him.