Vitalik Buterin Converts $1.6M in Meme Coins to Ether for Charitable Donations

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has converted meme coins worth $1.6 million into Ether (ETH) set to be donated to various charitable causes.

According to blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain, Buterin sold $982,800 worth of Moo Deng (MOODENG), $231,000 of Monsterra (MSTR), and $183,000 of ETHEREUM IS GOOD (EBULL) as part of his latest transaction.

In addition, he offloaded smaller holdings of meme coins such as Popcat (POPCAT), Fwog (FWOG), and vitalek buteren (VITALIK).

Vitalik Buterin Sells $2.78M Worth of Meme Coins

The move brings Buterin’s total meme coin sales to $2.78 million, of which $884,000 has already been donated to charities over the past nine days.

The Ethereum co-creator has consistently expressed appreciation for meme coin issuers who send him coins, though he has encouraged them to donate directly to causes instead.

Earlier, on October 7, Buterin announced that he was donating 10 billion meme coin tokens he received to an organization working on anti-airborne-disease technology.

“I’ve said before that I think the best thing for meme coins is if they can be maximally positive-sum for the world, so it’s great to see moments when that actually happens!” the Ethereum mastermind wrote.

I appreciate all the memecoins that donate portions of their supply directly to charity.

(eg. I saw ebull sent a bunch to various groups last month)

Anything that gets sent to me gets donated to charity too (thanks moodeng! The 10B from today is going to anti-airborne-disease…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 7, 2024

In August, he similarly donated various animal-themed meme coins to the Effective Altruism Funds’ Animal Welfare Fund.

Buterin’s crypto portfolio still contains approximately $2.4 million in MOODENG tokens, alongside smaller amounts of other meme coins like Neiro (NEIRO), Monsterra (MSTR), and Degen (DEGEN), suggesting that more charitable donations could be forthcoming.

Known for his belief that meme coins can contribute to society, Buterin has also criticized celebrity-themed meme coins that primarily benefit celebrities and early investors.

Economists Suggest Buterin for Nobel Prize

Buterin’s philanthropic efforts, alongside his continued contributions to Ethereum, have led some prominent economists, including Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok, to suggest him as a potential candidate for the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

“Vitalik built a platform, created a currency, you could say, refuted Mises’ regression theorem in the process, obviously following in the footsteps of Satoshi,” Cowen said in their podcast, Marginal Revolution, on October 8.

Tabarrok agreed, adding that Buterin “has continued to contribute toward the mechanism design of Ethereum by going to proof-of-stake.”

He likened the development of Ethereum’s proof-of-work into a proof-of-stake mechanism to “those videos of these guys in Saudi Arabia where they change the car tires while the car is moving.”

The pair also discussed Buterin’s seemingly agreeable nature, describing him as a representative of the cryptocurrency world who’s seen as an intellectual and likable person.

The duo continued by stating that Buterin’s contributions to both crypto and blockchain are matched only by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous and anonymous founder of Bitcoin.

“Yes, I agree. Satoshi, of course, should have gotten it as well, but I’m sure he’s dead.”