Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has made headlines once again after going on a selling spree of airdropped tokens that he never asked for. The total value of the tokens sold amounted to nearly $700,000, with some of the tokens’ prices plummeting following Buterin’s decision to sell.
According to Etherscan, Buterin’s wallet offloaded 500 trillion SHIKOKU (SHIK) for 380.3 ETH ($595,448), 10 billion Cult DAO (CULT) for 58.1 ETH ($91,021), and 50 billion Mops (MOPS) for 1.25 ETH ($1,950) on March 7. As Buterin’s holdings represented a large portion of the circulating supply for some of these tokens, the sales resulted in huge price drops.
The largest price drop was recorded by SHIK, which saw an 86% decline following Buterin’s sale, according to CoinMarketCap data. The total circulating supply of SHIK is 1 quadrillion, with the 500 trillion previously held by Buterin representing 50% of the current supply.
This is not the first time that Buterin has sold airdropped tokens. In May 2021, he initiated a similar offload that resulted in price drops of 40% for Shiba Inu (SHIB) and 90% for Dogelon Mars (ELON).
While some members of the cryptocurrency community expressed frustration at Buterin’s decision to sell, others suggested that it was motivated by tax implications. Airdrops are subject to income tax in most countries, and receiving a large amount of them could result in significant tax obligations.
Buterin confirmed that he owned the wallet in a 2018 tweet after being accused of hoarding 75% of the supply of Ether with fellow Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin during the token’s pre-mining sale.