- Ethereum co-founder continues selling off tokens to fund new initiatives.
- But Wall Street’s biggest banks are increasing their exposure through Bitmine shares.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold over $8 million worth of tokens from his personal wallet over the weekend, onchain tracking platform Arkham shows.
And he’s still unloading Ether in big batches at time of reporting. Onchain data shows Buterin continues to liquidate five-figure clips up to $85,000 worth of Ethereum for stablecoins through the decentralised exchange Cow Swap.
Buterin’s move extends his $7 million in Ether selling from earlier in February. He said that selloff aimed to fund new initiatives as Ethereum is “entering a period of mild austerity” over the next five years to achieve its goals.
And it comes as Ethereum’s price has crashed over 60% from its August peak of $4,950 per token. The downturn coincides with a crypto market massacre that has wiped out $2 trillion in value.
Items on Buterin’s roadmap include securing the blockchain’s long-term future and ensuring that it becomes a “scalable world computer” that doesn’t compromise on decentralisation.
In January, Buterin announced he prepared to sell some 16,384 Ether tokens and use the proceeds to “toward these goals over the next few years.”
Over the past week, he has published long messages on X covering artificial intelligence, language models, and security, hinting at more ambitions for Ethereum.
Institutions buy dip
To be sure, there are plenty of prominent players actively doubling down on Ethereum despite the blockchain’s figurehead selling off his tokens.
Those include the likes of early crypto pioneer Erik Voorhees and Bitmine chair Tom Lee, both who have made eight-figure purchases over the past week.
Last week, Lee cited “strengthened product-market fit” for Ethereum based on Wall Street’s tokenisation push, and artificial intelligence tools using the blockchain, as key catalysts for growth.
“It is clear that Ethereum’s neutrality, combined with 100% uptime and reliability, positions it to capture significant market share,” he said.
And Wall Street’s biggest banks are all trusting in Lee.
BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Vanguard, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Citi, and Bank of New York Mellon, all increased their holdings of Bitmine shares in the fourth quarter of 2025, 13-F filings with the SEC show.
Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at lance@dlnews.com.
