Vitalik Buterin earmarked 17,000 ether worth about $43 million for privacy projects in January. A month later, his wallet balance has dropped by about that amount, and the token he’s selling has lost more than a third of its value.
Arkham Intelligence data shows Buterin’s attributed wallets held around 241,000 ETH in early February. That figure now stands at 224,000 ETH after a steady stream of outflows throughout the month, including $6.6 million over three days earlier in February and around another $7 million in the past three days alone.
The sale was conducted through decentralized exchange aggregator CoW Protocol, split into several smaller swaps rather than single large transactions.
The approach is standard practice to minimize slippage in size, but it also means that sales have been a slow, consistent bleed rather than a one-off event.
The timing is awkward. Ether is down 37% over the past month, according to CoinDesk market data, trading near $1,900 on Wednesday, and Buterin’s ongoing sale adds headline pressure to a token already struggling for a narrative.
More than 30% of the ETH supply remains locked up, but yields are compressed to around 2.8%, making lockup less attractive compared to risk-free alternatives.
Buterin announced the award of $43 million in January, saying he had set aside 16,384 ETH to fund privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware, and secure software systems.
He described the effort as something he would personally lead as the Ethereum Foundation entered a period of “gentle austerity” while maintaining its technical roadmap. The capital, he said, would be deployed gradually over several years.
Ether’s selloff has widened the pain for corporate ETH holders. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, one of the largest, is estimated to bear billions in unrealized losses after ether dropped about 60% in six months – falling well below the average purchase price.
