Vitalik Buterin Denies Selling Ethereum for Personal Profit

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has denied claims that he sold millions of dollars worth of Ether (ETH) for personal gain.

He asserted that any ETH he sold was to support various crypto projects and charitable causes.

On August 30, a member of the crypto community on X alleged that Buterin had sold over $2 million worth of Ethereum (800 ETH) following a bullish tweet. Onchain analytics firm Lookonchain also noted that the same wallet address received 3,000 ETH from Buterin on August 9.

In response on August 31, Buterin addressed a post on X that defended his right to profit from selling ETH tokens he had accumulated over the past seven years. He clarified that he has not sold Ethereum for personal profit since 2018, but has instead used the funds to support Web3 projects and charitable initiatives. He stated, “I haven’t sold and kept the proceeds since 2018. All sales have been to support various projects that I believe are valuable, including those within the Ethereum ecosystem and broader charity efforts such as biomedical research.”

Buterin’s response received support from the community, with some users encouraging him to profit from his ETH holdings. One user commented, “Don’t even defend it; you deserve the yacht, too.”

In recent discussions, Buterin has also defended Ethereum against criticism that it is not supportive of decentralized finance (DeFi). Kain Warwick, the creator of yield farming, had criticized Buterin for not valuing DeFi enough. In a rebuttal, Buterin emphasized his commitment to promoting applications that are both useful and sustainable, while maintaining Ethereum’s core principles of permissionlessness and decentralization. He added that he does not support projects that rely on temporary factors lacking long-term viability.