Vitalik Buterin sold 18 thousand ethereums for 38 million dollars

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has exceeded his previously announced plan to sell 16,384 pieces of the cryptocurrency, with total sales now reaching 18,684 pieces. Data shows that total sales have now surpassed 18 thousand ethereums, worth over 38 million dollars.

The sale, which accelerated in the last 24 hours, comes at a time when the second-largest cryptocurrency is struggling with a months-long downward trend that has seen it lose nearly 60 percent of its value since last year’s record above 4,900 dollars.

Acceleration above the planned target

The analytics firm Lookonchain reported on Thursday that wallets associated with Buterin have now surpassed the threshold of 16,384 ethereums that he announced at the end of January. The blockchain programmer originally revealed his plan on January 31, stating that he withdrew 16,384 ethereums to fund the development of open-source software and hardware, privacy tools, and security-critical infrastructure projects.

He characterized this move as part of a period of ‘mild austerity’ for the Ethereum Foundation, personally taking responsibility for funding certain initiatives to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Foundation. The sale began in early February and occurred in various phases. Lookonchain reported on February 5 that Buterin sold 2,961 ethereums worth 6.6 million dollars over three days at an average price of 2,228 dollars.

By February 6, total sales had risen to 6,183 ethereums, worth 13.2 million dollars, and the pace accelerated later in the month. Data for February 22 showed that Buterin withdrew another 3,500 ethereums from Aave, and by February 23, Lookonchain recorded an additional sale of 1,869 ethereums worth 3.67 million dollars.

However, the most intense activity occurred between February 25 and 26. According to analyst Ted Pillows, Buterin sold another 2.83 million dollars worth of ethereums in just a few hours, bringing his total for February to 38.2 million dollars. The sale included an additional 2,300 ethereums sold after Ethereum recorded a daily increase of ten percent, marking the first such move in over four months.

Transaction data shared by Lookonchain shows multiple swaps directed through the CoW protocol, a decentralized exchange aggregator that splits large orders into smaller tranches to reduce market impact. These series ranged from seven to 70 ethereums and were executed in quick succession.

Despite the sales, data from Arkham Intelligence shows that Buterin remains one of the largest individual holders, with over 240 thousand ethereums still held in wallets associated with him.

Volatility of Ethereum and ETF outflows

The price of Ethereum has shown significant volatility during the period of Buterin’s sales. According to CoinGecko, the asset is currently trading below two thousand dollars. Analyst Ali Martinez noted that the larger drop in Ethereum coincided with significant ETF outflows, with data showing that institutional products sold around 563,600 ethereums worth about 1.13 billion dollars over the past five weeks.

If the selling pressure continues, Martinez identified several critical levels of decline to watch, with 1,800 dollars as an immediate pivot, followed by 1,584 dollars, 1,238 dollars, and a deeper capitulation zone near 1,089 dollars.