Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has gone on a shitcoin promoting spree, exchanging practically $700,000 price of tokens beforehand airdropped to him for Ether (ETH).
According to Etherscan, a pockets belonging to Buterin on March 7 offloaded 500 trillion SHIKOKU (SHIK) for 380.3 ETH ($595,448), practically 10 billion Cult DAO (CULT) for 58.1 ETH ($91,021), and 50 billion Mops (MOPS) for 1.25 ETH ($1,950).

Because of the low liquidity of the tokens the gross sales had an enormous impact on their costs. The most important worth drop from the tokens was SHIK, which recorded an 86% drop following Buterin’s sale in response to CoinMarketCap data.
#PeckShieldAlert $SHIK (SHIKOKU) has dropped -95.8%
Vitalik Buterin-labeled tackle 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
The whole circulating provide of SHIK is 1 quadrillion, with the five hundred trillion beforehand held by Buterin representing 50% of the present provide.
In Might 2021 the Ethereum co-founder initiated a similar offload promoting tokens akin to Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars (ELON) that resulted in worth drops of 40% and 90% respectively.
Associated: Ethereum price action and derivatives data confirm bears are currently in control
Whereas some inside the cryptocurrency group shared their frustration at Buterin’s choice to promote contemplating the outsized impact it had on the tokens, others urged it was motivated by the tax implications of receiving airdrops, that are subject to income tax in most international locations.
Looks like a wierd transfer, he’s greater than conscious this is able to tank costs and drain liquidity. My one assumption is that his accountant warned him these tokens would rely as revenue on his tax sheet. Promoting to cowl the expense
— SecureZero (@securezero) March 7, 2023
Buterin confirmed he owned the pockets in a 2018 tweet after he was accused of hoarding 75% of the provision of Ether with fellow Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin through the token’s pre-mining sale.