Yerevan (CoinChapter.com) — Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin has donated over $1 billion in crypto to the India Covid Relief Fund and other charities, reports confirm.
To donate, Buterin offloaded large amounts of dog-themed tokens he had reportedly received as gifts. The creators of Shiba Inu coin (SHIB), Dogelon (ELON), and Akita Inu (AKITA) had donated vast amounts of meme tokens to the Etherium luminary with hopes of capitalizing on his name. In effect, Buterin has donated to charity, thanks to the generosity of his counterparts in the sector.
Buterin came into the limelight again recently as he became the world’s youngest known crypto billionaire. Ether, Ethereum’s cryptocurrency, surged past the $3,000 mark at a 325% rise since the beginning of this year. This brought Buterin worth up to $1.09 billion in Ether alone.
Buterin reportedly donated 50 trillion SHIB tokens valued at $1.2 billion to the India Covid Relief Fund. Polygon Co-founder and COO Sandeep Nailwal set up the fund. Nailwal is of Indian origin. His company reportedly aggregates scalable solutions on Ethereum in a multi-chain system. In April, Buterin had donated $600,000 in Ether and Maker (MKR) tokens to the same fund.
Buterin Pulls the Plug
Vitalik Buterin’s move has been classified as a “rug pull” by experts.
The young entrepreneur’s steep rise to fame for Ether had caught the fancy of industrial newbies, who tried to bask under his glory. The founder of the SHIB token sent 50 percent of the token supply to Buterin last year. In 2018, he had revealed his Ethereum wallet address, allowing developers of meme coins to send him their tokens. Copycats like Akita Inu, who did not want to be left out, followed suit.
The founders of these tokens thought they were essentially “burning” the coins or taking them out of circulation by sending them to Buterin. However, Buterin struck back with a dump.
Prices of Knock-offs Plummet
The prices of the meme coins crashed after Buterin’s gracious dump. As per available data, Shiba Inu went down 36%, Dogelon Mars by 65%, and Akita Inu by over 50%. Collectively, they were dealt with an $80 million blow by Buterin.
With India facing many Covid cases, the donation comes right in time and will provide some relief to the health sector. It remains to be seen how the meme coin knock-offs will recover from this blow in the days to come.
