Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Executes $6.6M ETH Sale Following Withdrawal Announcement
The Ethereum co-founder completed sales of nearly 3,000 ETH valued at $6.6 million in multiple transactions shortly after announcing his intention to withdraw from his cryptocurrency holdings.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, liquidated approximately 2,961 Ether valued at $6.6 million across a span of three days, following his earlier public disclosure about plans to make withdrawals from his cryptocurrency portfolio.
According to a Thursday post on X by blockchain monitoring service Lookonchain, the series of transactions were completed at an approximate average selling price of $2,228 for each Ether (ETH) token. At the moment of publication, Ethereum's primary digital asset was trading near $2,130, representing a decline exceeding 5% within the preceding 24-hour period, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
Information from Arkham Intelligence reveals that the ETH liquidations were channeled through CoW Protocol, utilizing numerous smaller exchanges instead of executing one large bulk transaction. This type of trading strategy is frequently employed to minimize the effect on market pricing.
Buterin earmarks $45 million in ETH for privacy and open infrastructure push
In the previous week, Buterin announced that he had allocated 16,384 Ether, valued at approximately $45 million, from his own cryptocurrency reserves to fund initiatives focused on privacy-enhancing technologies, open-source hardware development, and secure, independently verifiable software systems. He indicated that these financial resources would be distributed incrementally throughout the upcoming years as the Ethereum Foundation transitions into what he characterized as a phase of "mild austerity," all while maintaining progress on its technological development agenda.
According to Buterin, he is now personally assuming duties that would typically be managed through specialized foundation initiatives, emphasizing the development of an accessible, secure and verifiable technological infrastructure that encompasses both software and hardware components.
Specifically, we are seeking the existence of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware that can protect both our personal lives and our public environments.
While the Ethereum Foundation has historically drawn criticism for liquidating ETH to finance its operational activities, the organization has more recently begun investigating alternative funding methodologies, including strategies based on staking mechanisms and decentralized finance protocols.
Market sensitivity grows amid uncertainty
These sales are occurring during a timeframe marked by increased vigilance toward major cryptocurrency holders. Declining ETH valuations have forced whales utilizing leverage to liquidate their holdings in order to settle outstanding debts, compounding the downward pressure on prices.
In a post shared on X this past Tuesday, Matt Hougan, who serves as chief investment officer at Bitwise, stated that the cryptocurrency sector has been experiencing a "full-blown crypto winter" since January 2025. "Chances are, we're closer to the end than the beginning," Hougan said.