Vitalik Buterin donates nearly $1m USDC from meme swaps

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin transferred nearly $1 million from Circle’s USDC stablecoin to biotech fund donation address Kanro.

On January 6, Buterin executed a series of swaps to sell meme coins in exchange for USDC (USDC) stablecoin tokens designated for charitable donations. According to the data, the “vitalik.eth” address generated $984,000 in revenue by selling approximately 28 meme coins.

Meme coin developers often send free tokens to Buterin’s public wallet, either as a marketing strategy or as a tribute to one of blockchain’s most famous developers and leaders.

Buterin occasionally disposes of these meme tokens to fund his charitable causes. Although unintended, their sales often result in significant price drops for the tokens in question. For example, DINU, one of the meme coins he sold, dropped in value by 68% after being exchanged for USDC.

DINU, one of the meme coins, fell 68% after Buterin traded it for USDC tokens sent to his Kanro address. Kanro is a biotech fund founded by Buterin in 2023 and serves as one of the ways the Ethereum co-founder donates.

On-chain viewers often tune in to Buterin’s public speech to get tips on possible donations and meme dumps. In October, he sold Popcat (POPCAT) and other meme tokens as Ether (ETH) for approximately $2.24 million.

Buterin also donated 10 million Thai Baht, or about $290,000, to Khao Kheow Open Zoo, guardians of internet-famous hippo Moo Deng.