Vitalik Buterin donated $532k in ‘animal coins’ to charity

Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin donated a year’s worth of memecoins to an animal charity by trading them for Ether.

After receiving thousands of free memecoins like the viral Neiro (NEIRO) and ERC-20 tokens since at least 2023, Buterin donated 200 Ethereum (ETH), worth around $532,000, to the animal welfare initiative Effective Altruism Funds.

Projects often send tokens to Buterin and other public crypto figures as a marketing ploy. Sometimes, the move is also intended to salute OG developers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of blockchain solutions.

Memecoin developers can send free tokens to people like Buterin because some wallets have been doxxed. For example, Buterin used the Ethereum Name Service for his Vitalik.eth wallet. ENS is an ETH-based naming service that allows users to assign easy-to-read names to on-chain addresses.

Vitalik Buterin calls for more funding for public benefits

After converting a cache of unused free memecoins, Vitalik Buterin called on the broader crypto community to engage in “more sophisticated public goods financing.” Buterin has frequently advocated for more memecoins with an end goal that serves the public.

His comments on the subject first emerged during the memecoin craze earlier this year, when creators on Ethereum and Solana flooded the markets with highly speculative ideas inspired by memes.

All animal money collected since last year has been donated to charity!

However, I appreciate that the coins are being allocated directly to charity😊

It’s 2024, we can start doing more complex public goods financing, see for example: https://t.co/8ZVhwkVwLy pic.twitter.com/RQ1ThdLCYL

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 15, 2024

Controversial actors have also launched racist projects, and other developers have taken advantage of the hype train to pull in millions in cryptocurrencies via rug pull. Despite Buterin’s statements, memecoins continue to be a cash cow for developers, service providers like Pump.fun, and well-placed investors who have managed to catch the rapidly rising coins.

In fact, Pump.fun’s revenue surpassed $30 million in June, less than six months after its January launch.