Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has recently gone on a massive token selling spree, exchanging nearly $700,000 worth of tokens previously airdropped to him for Ether (ETH). According to Etherscan, Buterin offloaded 500 trillion SHIKOKU (SHIK) for 380.3 ETH ($595,448), nearly 10 billion Cult DAO (CULT) for 58.1 ETH ($91,021), and 50 billion Mops (MOPS) for 1.25 ETH ($1,950).
The low liquidity of the tokens meant that Buterin’s sales had a huge effect on their prices. SHIK saw the largest price drop, recording an 86% drop following Buterin’s sale according to CoinMarketCap data. The total circulating supply of SHIK is 1 quadrillion, with the 500 trillion previously held by Buterin representing 50% of the current supply.
This isn’t the first time Buterin has offloaded tokens. In May 2021, he initiated a similar sale of tokens such as Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Dogelon Mars (ELON), resulting in price drops of 40% and 90% respectively.
The cryptocurrency community has been divided on Buterin’s decision to sell. Some have expressed their frustration at the outsized effect it had on the tokens, while others suggested it was motivated by the tax implications of receiving airdrops, which are subject to income tax in most countries. Buterin confirmed he owned the wallet in a 2018 tweet after he was accused of hoarding 75% of the supply of Ether with fellow Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin during the token’s pre-mining sale.