Key Points
- Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has transferred $8 million worth of ETH to a new wallet.
- The transfer has sparked speculation that it could be a potential donation to a charitable organization.
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has recently moved $8 million in ETH to a new wallet address.
This activity has led to speculation that the funds may be a donation to a charity.
Historical Donations and Speculations
Buterin has a history of transferring significant amounts of Ethereum to various wallets.
Many of these transfers have been identified as donations to charities and other worthy causes.
The latest transfer of 3,000 ETH, worth roughly $8 million, has led Lookonchain to speculate that it could be a potential donation.
The digital assets were sent to a multi-signature safe wallet, which Lookonchain suggests may belong to an unidentified charity.
In addition to the 3,000 Ether, a blockchain security firm, PeckShield, detected a transfer of 200 ETH worth $534,000 to an address labeled 0xEBb7…eB89.
While it remains unclear if these funds are intended for charity, Buterin began making substantial donations to charities in May 2021.
Philanthropic Efforts
At that time, he donated over $1 billion in various cryptocurrencies to an Indian Covid-Crypto Relief Fund, established to assist those affected by the pandemic.
This initiative was founded by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, who initially funded it with $1 million.
In 2023, Buterin continued his philanthropic efforts with another donation to fund research projects related to the virus.
He contributed an additional $10 million to a program that allocated $100 million for research.
The funds are intended to be used for research to improve indoor air quality to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to investigate ways to mitigate the virus’s long-term effects.
Buterin has also made significant contributions to open-source projects.
In May 2021, Gitcoin, an open-source bug bounty platform, announced that it had received a “generous gift” from Buterin worth approximately $5 million.
He sent 49 trillion Akita Inu tokens (AKITA) to the platform’s wallet address.
Additionally, Buterin donated $441 million worth of the same token to Gitcoin to support its mission of improving security within the crypto industry.
Last month, Buterin donated 100 ETH to the 2077 Collective Community, an initiative designed to promote the Ethereum blockchain and strengthen its industry position.
This group, composed of creatives, researchers, developers, and marketers, plans to launch innovative projects to “make Ethereum cool again”.
According to data from The Giving Block, crypto donations reached a record high in 2022, with $125 million donated to various charities.
As a result, the company predicts that crypto donations could surpass $10 billion over the next decade.
