Buterin's 10,000 $ETH Selling Spree: Why Now?

Vitalik Buterin is selling ETH to personally fund open-source projects. That is the short answer. The Ethereum co-founder has offloaded 10,723 ETH since February 2, pulling in roughly $21.7 million at an average price of $2,027 per token. The sales follow a public pledge he made on January 30 to liquidate 16,384 ETH from his personal holdings and deploy the capital toward what he called a "full stack" of open-source, secure, and verifiable technology.

The longer answer involves timing, optics, and a community that is not entirely convinced.

What Exactly Did Buterin Pledge?

On January 30, Buterin announced he had withdrawn 16,384 ETH, worth about $45 million at the time, to personally finance software, hardware, and biotech projects. The target areas include finance, communication, governance, operating systems, secure hardware, and privacy-preserving technologies.

He framed the move as his "own share of the austerity" during a period where the Ethereum Foundation has been tightening its belt, prioritizing long-term sustainability and core protocol development over broader funding commitments.

In other words, Buterin stepped in to cover initiatives that might otherwise compete for limited foundation resources.

How Are the Sales Playing Out?

On-chain trackers, including Lookonchain, Onchain Lens, and Arkham Intelligence, have been closely monitoring the wallets. Here is what the data shows so far:

• 6,958 ETH sold for $14.78 million in early February
• 1,869 ETH sold for $3.67 million over two days leading up to February 23
• 3,765 ETH sold for $7.08 million in the three days before February 24
• Total: 10,723 ETH for approximately $21.7 million

Buterin has been swapping ETH to stablecoins through decentralized exchanges like CoW Swap, executing in smaller batches to limit immediate market impact. Some of the ETH was withdrawn from lending platform Aave before being sold.

With the total pledge set at 16,384 ETH, roughly 5,600 ETH remains to be liquidated.

Is This Hurting the Price?

The timing is hard to ignore. ETH has dropped 38% over the past 30 days and currently trades around $1,825, sitting 63% below its all-time high near $5,000 from August 2025. Buterin's sales have directly overlapped with notable price declines. During the early February batch, ETH fell from $2,360 to $1,825, a 22.7% slide. The most recent two-day sale window saw a 5.7% drop from $1,988 to $1,875.

That said, correlation is not causation. The broader crypto market has been in a sustained downturn driven by macro uncertainty and declining risk appetite. And Buterin's sales, while noticeable, represent a tiny fraction of ETH's total circulating supply. He still holds over 224,000 ETH worth hundreds of millions, according to Arkham Intelligence.

The methodical pace also matters. These are not panicked market dumps. They are pre-announced, stablecoin-swapped, batch-sized transactions designed to minimize disruption.

What Is the Community Saying?

Mixed, as you would expect. On X, some users have labeled the selling a "turbo dump" and questioned whether Buterin still has confidence in his own chain. Others have pushed back, pointing out that the sales were publicly announced weeks before they started and serve a stated purpose.

The tension comes down to a familiar crypto dilemma: founders selling during a bear market looks bad regardless of the reason. When the co-founder of the second-largest blockchain is consistently moving ETH to stablecoins while the price bleeds, it feeds bearish sentiment whether or not the motive is genuine.

A Bigger Picture Worth Noting

On the same day, February 24, the Ethereum Foundation announced it has begun staking 70,000 ETH from its treasury. Staking rewards will flow back into the foundation's treasury to fund research, development, and community grants. The move signals a shift from passively holding ETH to putting those assets to work, reducing the need for future token sales to cover operational costs.

Between Buterin personally funding ecosystem projects and the foundation putting its treasury to productive use, the broader story here is about financial restructuring within Ethereum's leadership. Whether the market rewards that narrative during a 38% drawdown is another question entirely.

Sources:

• The Block Reporting on Buterin's 10,723 ETH sold since early February, citing Onchain Lens and Lookonchain data (Feb 24, 2026)
• CoinDesk Coverage of Buterin accelerating ETH sales amid weak market conditions, including Arkham Intelligence holdings data (Feb 23, 2026)
• BeInCrypto Analysis of Buterin's February sales and correlation with ETH price declines, citing Lookonchain data (Feb 22, 2026)