Vitalik Buterin’s $15 Million USDC Transaction Sparks Controversy
Crypto News – A recent $15 million USD Coin transaction involving Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has created a stir in the crypto community. Initially flagged as a transfer to the Gemini crypto exchange by blockchain analysts, the Ethereum Foundation later clarified that this was not the case.
On October 16, a post by blockchain analytics firm PeckShield on X alleged that Buterin’s wallet, identified as “vitalik.eth,” had transferred $14.93 million to the Gemini crypto exchange. However, an Ethereum Foundation spokesperson debunked this claim, explaining that the transaction was the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) associated with Buterin approving a transfer from a charity multisig wallet to fund a grant. Funds had not actually left Buterin’s wallet.
The $14.93 million USDC initially came from Kanro, a charity affiliated with Buterin, on October 14. Buterin later authorized a transfer of the same amount to a new multisig wallet address. Kanro is a bio-tech charity funded by Buterin, focusing on addressing Covid and other pandemic-related issues.
Further analysis by crypto data provider Lookonchain revealed that Buterin had also transferred nearly $500,000 to Coinbase just three days prior to the aforementioned transaction.
Despite the buzz surrounding this transaction, the price of Ethereum’s native currency, Ether, remained relatively stable, experiencing a minor 0.68% decrease in the past four hours, according to data from CoinGecko.
This transaction is part of a series of transfers made by Buterin over the last few months, totaling more than $3.9 million in September alone. On September 24, Buterin transferred 400 ETH (worth $600,000 at the time) to Coinbase. Cointelegraph had previously reported a 600-ETH transaction ($1 million) from the vitalik.eth address on August 21, which was also identified by on-chain monitoring platforms.
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