Vitalik Buterin Cashed Out Large Sums of ETH During 2017 Crypto Frenzy
Ethereum mastermind Vitalik Buterin, who holds 350,000 ETH in his main wallet address, allegedly cashed out $40 million worth of ETH between June 2017 and February 2018. The findings came to light by Alex Sunnarborg, a founding partner of the crypto hedge fund Tetra Capital, who dug into Vitalik’s historical account data.
The Breakdown of Vitalik’s ETH Movements
According to Etherscan, Buterin has converted 544,998 ETH to fiat currencies since 2015. This amount equals to almost $49 million, $40 million of which he moved during the period mentioned above.
5/ Vitalik likely cashed out ~ $40,000,000 worth of ETH between June 2017 – February 2018: pic.twitter.com/8RoMKU63ha
— Alex Sunnarborg (@alexsunnarborg) March 19, 2019
While today the balance of Vitalik’s main address is worth $50 million, its net worth reached $500 million when Ethereum exceeded $1,300 in December 2017.
4/ His net worth from this ETH balance alone exceeded $500,000,000 at the peak: pic.twitter.com/nLVRemAmqH
— Alex Sunnarborg (@alexsunnarborg) March 19, 2019
Sunnarborg followed up with Buterin to confirm his calculations, who clarified he has never cashed out around the $915 price level. Thus, his holdings in fiat currencies were below $30 million, reminding him that he had allocated around $8 million in donations.
My fiat holdings are well under $30m. You likely overestimated due to (1) all prices generally being on the high side, eg. I definitely never cashed out anywhere close to the $915 level, (2) forgetting charity donations (~$8m I believe)
— Vitalik Non-giver of Ether (@VitalikButerin) March 19, 2019
