Vitalik Buterin Cuts ETH Holdings by 17K after $45M Privacy Pledge

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has reduced his Ether balance by roughly 17,000 ETH in one month after announcing plans to earmark $45 million worth of tokens for privacy projects.

Buterin’s wallets tracked by Arkham held about 241,000 Ether (ETH) in early February, before a series of outflows reduced the combined balance to 224,000 ETH today.

The reduction comes amid continued selling from Buterin, including selling about 2,961 Ether worth $6.6 million over a three-day period earlier in the month. Onchain analysts reported that the selling accelerated recently as he sold $7 million worth of tokens in the past three days.

Arkham Intelligence data shows the ETH sales were routed via decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator CoW Protocol using numerous smaller swaps instead of one large transaction, a method typically employed to minimize market impact.

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Buterin commits $45 million to privacy initiatives

The ETH sell-off came after Buterin revealed in January that he had set aside 16,384 Ether, about $45 million, from his personal holdings to fund privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware, and secure, verifiable software systems. He said the capital will be deployed gradually over the coming years as part of a broader push for open-source and self-sovereign tools.

Buterin described the effort as aligned with the Ethereum Foundation entering a period of “mild austerity,” while maintaining its technical roadmap. He added he would personally take on initiatives that might otherwise be handled by the foundation, focusing on building a full open-source software and hardware stack to protect both digital and real-world environments.

“Specifically, we are seeking the existence of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware that can protect both our personal lives and our public environments,” he wrote.

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ETH drops 37% in one month

Buterin’s ETH selling coincided with a sharp drop in the price of Ether, which has lost over 37% of its value over the past month, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The token is currently trading at $1,825.39, down by nearly 5% over the past day.

The weak price performance comes even as more than 30% of Ether’s supply remains locked in staking. While staking yields have declined to about 2.8%, validator demand is still strong, with a near-record entry queue and minimal exits, according to data from DropsTab.

The decline has also hit corporate Ether treasuries hard. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, one of the largest corporate ETH holders, is estimated to be carrying billions in unrealized losses after the token fell about 60% in six months and dropped far below its average purchase price.

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