Vitalik Buterin, one of Ethereum’s co-founders, has been on a buying and selling binge recently, trading roughly $700,000 worth of tokens that were airdropped to him in the past for Ether.
Etherscan reports that on March 7, a wallet belonging to Buterin sold 500 trillion SHIKOKU (SHIK) for 380.3 ETH (equivalent to $595,448), roughly 10 billion Cult DAO (CULT) for 58.1 ETH (equivalent to $91,021), and 50 billion Mops (MOPS) for 1.25 ETH (equivalent to $1,950).
The low liquidity of the tokens caused the sales to have a significant impact on the pricing of the tokens. According to statistics provided by CoinMarketCap, the token whose price dropped the most was SHIK, which had a decrease of 86 percent in value after Buterin’s sale.
The entire amount of SHIK that is now in circulation is 1 quadrillion, with Buterin’s prior holdings of 500 trillion coins constituting exactly half of the current supply.
The co-founder of Ethereum carried out a similar unload in May 2021, selling tokens such as Shiba Inu and Dogelon Mars (ELON), which resulted in price reductions of forty percent and ninety percent, respectively.
Others in the cryptocurrency community have suggested that Buterin’s decision to sell was motivated by the tax implications of receiving airdrops, which are subject to income tax in most countries. This is despite the fact that some members of the cryptocurrency community have expressed their frustration at Buterin’s decision to sell in light of the enormous effect it had on the tokens.
As he and fellow Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin were accused of hoarding 75% of the quantity of Ether during the token’s pre-mining sale, Buterin verified in a tweet in 2018 that he controlled the wallet. This came after they were accused of doing so.
