Vitalik Buterin promises L2 tokens to support public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has pledged to donate all the Layer 2 (L2) tokens he owns to support public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem or to wider charitable causes.

This announcement comes days after allegations that he sold millions in Ether (ETH) for personal gain.

Vitalik Buterin denies a profit motive

Buterin quickly responded to the allegations, stressing that he has not sold any ETH for personal gain since 2018. Instead, he clarified that the proceeds from his ETH sales have gone to projects that contribute to the ecosystem Ethereum or other charitable initiatives.

In an update on September 5th, he expanded on his position and pledged to donate all the L2 tokens he owns, including illiquid assets, to support similar causes.

He wrote: “All proceeds will be donated, again, either to support public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem or to a wider charity (eg biomedical R&D). I also do not intend to invest in L2s or other testimonial projects in the foreseeable future”.

He explained that his goal in project funding is to support initiatives that he considers important, especially in situations where other parts of the ecosystem may not fully recognize their value.

The allegations

On August 30th, an X user accused him of selling over $2 million in ETH shortly after he posted a positive update on the future of Ethereum.

Later, Lookonchain also revealed that Vitalik had transferred 800 ETH, worth around $2 million, to a multi-sign wallet. Shortly after, the wallet exchanged 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC.

Further analysis by Lookonchain indicated that on August 9 he had moved an additional 3,000 ETH, valued at over $8 million, to the same multi-sig wallet.

These transfers fueled speculation that the Ethereum co-founder was liquidating his Ether holdings for a profit.

Buterin had previously disclosed that all of his Ether holdings came from Ethereum’s pre-mining period, which allocated 11.9 million ETH (about 10% of the total supply) to early contributors. As one of them, he received 700,000 ETH for his role in creating the network.

According to blockchain tracker Arkham Intelligence, his current holdings amount to approximately 240,000 ETH. This is a reduction of around 460,000 ETH from your initial deposit.

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