Vitalik Buterin Sells 3,000 Ethereum Causing Concerns

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin just sold off about 3,000 ETH, raising questions among investors, especially considering the timing of the trade.

Russian-born Canadian programmer and co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently engaged in a selloff that saw him swap 3,000 Ethereum (ETH) tokens to USDC on the decentralized exchange Uniswap V3.

The swap occurred in three different transactions of even distribution and was carried out on Saturday, according to cryptocurrency tracking and compliance platform MistTrack. Information from the trade indicates that Buterin swapped 1,000 ETH tokens in each of the three transactions, which all occurred within 5 minutes – from 6:42 AM to 6:47 AM (UTC).

“Looks like VitalikButerin made some trades recently, selling 3000 $ETH on Uniswap for $USDC. Wonder if the fud is getting to him too?” MistTrack remarked in a tweet Monday, sharing transaction proof to corroborate the claim. He sold it at $1,250.3, resulting to $3.75M in USDC.

Looks like @VitalikButerin made some trades recently, selling 3000 $ETH on @Uniswap for $USDC.

Wonder if the fud is getting to him too??

Btw that's like $4M, so yeah his SIZE is size ? pic.twitter.com/sdLA0Qr0uN

— MistTrack?️ (@MistTrack_io) November 14, 2022

The development was further reported by Chinese blockchain reporter Colin Wu, bringing it to a broader audience. Considering the timing of the trade, questions have been raised on whether the Ethereum co-founder is gradually giving in to the recently-introduced FUD or if the move was uncorrelated with recent developments.

Certain individuals assert that Buterin realizes that a massive dump is looming – considering the escalating situation surrounding FTX and the developing issues with Crypto.com and Gate.io – alleging that he might be looking to cash out a few assets before this dump eventually materializes.

Notwithstanding, others – representing the minority of observers – believe the transactions were not correlated with the current issues surrounding the crypto space, especially considering the amount involved, as Buterin would be selling off more tokens if the FUD was getting to him.

Amid these conflicting speculations, nothing seems certain at the time of reporting. However, it remains an undeniable fact that the developments in the past few days have put the confidence of a lot of investors to the test, especially when it concerns centralized exchanges (CEXs). Several proponents have intensified their advocacy for self-custody.

As previously reported by Wu, data from CryptoQuant indicated that investors were already taking their assets off CEXs. About $8.2B – $3.7B in BTC, $2.5B in ETH, and $2B+ in stablecoins – moved from CEXs in a week starting from November 6. Consequently, BTC Exchange Reserve plummeted to a low last witnessed in November of 2018.

Conversely, trading volumes on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) increased, especially in Uniswap. Over 2,300 ETH was burned by Uniswap V3 and V2 in a week, triggering a deflationary trend for the asset. Reports suggest that the wallets trading USDC on DEXs significantly increased to a new high of late.

These moves have been provoked by the recent FTX saga and the developing situation involving Gate.io and Crypto.com. Following a necessity to reveal proof of reserves, reports suggest that Gate.io and Crypto.com might be faking these proofs.

Crypto.com “mistakenly” transferred 320K ETH to Gate.io on October 21. Seven days later – on October 28 – Gate.io released a report for its proof of reserves. Gate.io later transferred only 285K ETH back to Crypto.com. The enigmatic movement of funds have raised serious questions despite Crypto.com’s CEO Kris Marszalek explaining that the transaction was not premeditated.