Canadian computer programmer and co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin recently executed a large-scale ETH transaction, sparking interest in the destination of the funds. 

Buterin Donates 100 ETH To Ethereum-Focused Organization

On July 6, Buterin transferred approximately 99.9 ETH tokens valued at about $300,000 to a wallet address starting with 0x82 for the Gnosis Safe Proxy. The transaction, spotted by blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence and confirmed by on-chain data, was executed using one of Buterin’s main wallet addresses.

Reports have indicated that the destination of the 100 ETH is suspected to be a community-driven organization, the 2077 Collective. Interestingly, Buterin donated the funds to an organization that consistently promotes the adoption of the Ethereum blockchain.

The 2077 Collective is a group of creatives, researchers, developers and marketers dedicated to improving Ethereum’s adoption, aiming to fuel more growth, and advancements within the ecosystem. The organization has also revealed plans to promote Ethereum’s expansion within the crypto space and outside of it. 

In his efforts to support the goals of the innovative organization, Buterin donated a significant sum to empower members of the 2077 Collective and potentially facilitate the growth of the Ethereum blockchain.

Typically, when a prominent figure like Buterin initiates a substantial Ethereum transfer, it tends to lead to widespread speculation as the market tries to figure out the reasons behind the transaction and the potential implications on the market. 

Now that Ethereum’s price action is showing signs of fragility, a transaction from one of the cryptocurrency’s founders is sure to capture the market’s attention. The cryptocurrency is trading below all-time highs, consistently witnessing declines that have led to a crash of almost 20% over the past month.

At the time of writing, Ethereum’s price is $3,062, reflecting an 11.82% decrease in the last week, according to CoinMarketCap. Despite the declines, the cryptocurrency’s trading volume is up by 66.73%, underscoring investors’ continued interest and demand for the altcoin. 

Buterin’s Philanthropic ETH Contributions

Buterin’s recent 100 ETH transfer is one of many ETH transactions initiated over the years. Earlier in 2023, Buterin revealed that he had never sold any Ethereum for personal gains since 2018.

At the time, the Ethereum co-founder disclosed that his ETH transfers were primarily donations to charity, non-profit organizations or COVID-related causes. Solidifying his claims, Buterin is well known for his generosity within the crypto space. 

The crypto founder has constantly made headlines for his philanthropic contributions and efforts to sustain growth and innovation in the space. While he holds a significant amount of assets, Buterin persistently contributes in different ways to the crypto community and the world.

Data from Arkham Intelligence revealed that Buterin’s wallet holds approximately $1.99 million, with the majority of his assets in Ethereum. Precisely, the wallet holds about 357,273 ETH and a varied portfolio of other prominent altcoins. 

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

The Ethereum price has fallen by around -25% since its mid-March peak at around $4,100 and is currently trading just above $3,000. While this loss is in line with the broader market trend and in particular Bitcoin’s price drop of about -22% in the same time, there could be another reason for ETH’s price slump, which seems plausible since the German government only sells BTC and not ETH, and Mt. Gox doesn’t own any ETH either. But what if Ethereum has its very own “Mt. Gox“?

Is The Ethereum Price Suppressed By Golem?

Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu (@WuBlockchain) first reported via X on the significant movements of ETH funds by the Golem project, an Ethereum-based project that conducted a notable Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in 2016. According to Wu, “Golem, a project that raised 820,000 ETH in ICO in 2016, has transferred 36,000 ETH to Binance, Coinbase, Bitfinex, etc. in the past 37 days, worth about $115 million.”

On-chain analysis service Lookonchain further revealed the extent of these transactions via X: “Golem has sold 24,400 ETH ($72M) on Binance, Coinbase and Bitfinex in the past 3 days, and currently holds 127,634 ETH ($372M). Golem raised 820,000 ETH through ICO in November 2016, when the price of ETH was only $10.2.”

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The Golem ICO was an early and significant event for the crypto industry which took place in November 2016. Golem aimed to create a decentralized supercomputer by harnessing the combined computing power of users’ machines, from personal laptops to entire data centers. The idea was to allow users to rent out their computing resources to others.

In its ICO, Golem raised approximately 820,000 ETH, which was valued at around $8 million at the time, in just 29 minutes, becoming a symbol of the ICO bubble. This funding was supposed to be used to develop the Golem network. Despite its ambitious goals, Golem’s market relevance has significantly diminished, with its token now trading at just $0.32 (#151 by market cap), a stark decline from its peak price of $1.32 in January 2018.

Harsh Criticism From Crypto Experts

Criticism has been vocal among industry leaders. Adam Cochran, a partner at CEHV, expressed his displeasure via X: “Absolute bastards. Sat on their ETH for ages doing nothing. And here we are in the era of demand for distributed compute and they can’t even be relevant.”

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Similarly, Jimmy Ragosa, an advisor at Sismo, sarcastically remarked, “Yes, Golem has been dumping on us. But, at least, they are using these 100s of millions of dollars to build critical scaling infra and widely adopted apps, right?”

Another perspective came from @based16z on X, who speculated on the rationale behind Golem’s actions, “Say what you want about Golem, but they’re not exactly a gambler. For them to dump 700 million dollars in ETH after 7 years, I assume they know something.”

How strong the influence of Golem sales is on the ETH price remains pure speculation. However, it seems clear that the constant selling pressure has probably played at least a certain role in the Ethereum price slump. At press time, ETH traded at $3,049.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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