Buterin's Massive Token Dump Nets Him $700K In ETH, Sends Altcoin Prices Tumbling

Crypto genius and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unloaded his stash of free meme coins, which netted him almost $700,000 in ETH. However, his action sent the prices of these unsolicited altcoins to plummet, triggering worries in the community that it could lead to a crypto crash.

Buterin recently dumped billions of free coins, which include 50 billion MOPS, 10 billion CULT and 500 trillion SHIK, based on the data released by the on-chain analytics platform Lookchain.

The massive sell-out netted Buterin 429.25 ETH or around $691,000 based on the current value of Ethereum.

The data was confirmed by blockchain security firm PeckShield, which reported the Ethereum co-founder also sold 3.4 million BITE tokens for 4.9 ETH, and deposited 214 ETH to an EthDev address.

Despite the massive sell-out, Buterin, based on Etherscan data, still holds 666 SHIK and 10 billion CULT tokens.

The tokens Buterin sold are unsolicited crypto assets, which developers had previously sent him, hoping he would promote them and boost the project or token's legitimacy in the community.

The crypto community considered these tokens as sh**coins or those from low-quality projects with little to zero value.

The crypto genius' recent sales of these tokens immediately tanked their values, with BITE seeing its value plummet by 7%, CULT tumbling by 7.5% and SHIK falling by a massive 60%.

But, MOPS, instead of trading down, saw a positive reaction with a massive price jump of 216% over the past 24 hours despite Buterin's move.

While many were disappointed in Buterin's latest decision since it clearly tanked the prices and drained the tokens' liquidity, some speculated he might have unloaded the free coins to cover expenses.

It was worth noting this was not the first time that Buterin has dumped the coins sent to him by developers.

In May 2021, the crypto genius burned 90% of the 500 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens he received in his wallet.

Buterin used the unsolicited SHIB tokens, which were worth $1 billion, to donate to the India COVID fund.

"I've decided to burn 90% of the remaining shiba tokens in my wallet. The remaining 10% will be sent to a (not yet decided) charity with similar values to crypto relief (preventing large-scale loss of life) but with a more long-term orientation," Buterin said in a note attached to another transaction at the time.