Vitalik Buterin earmarked 17,000 ether, worth about $43 million, for privacy projects in January. A month later, his wallet balance is down by roughly that amount, and the token he’s selling has lost more than a third of its value.
Arkham Intelligence data shows Buterin’s attributed wallets held about 241,000 ETH at the start of February. That figure now sits at 224,000 ETH after a steady series of outflows through the month, including $6.6 million over three days earlier in February and roughly another $7 million in the past three days alone.
The sales were executed through decentralized exchange aggregator CoW Protocol, broken into numerous smaller swaps rather than single large transactions.
The approach is standard practice for minimizing slippage on size, but it also means the selling has been a slow, consistent bleed rather than a one-time event.
The timing is uncomfortable. Ether has dropped 37% over the past month, according to CoinDesk market data, trading near $1,900 on Wednesday, and Buterin’s ongoing sales add headline pressure to a token already struggling for a narrative.
More than 30% of ETH supply remains locked in staking, but yields have compressed to around 2.8%, making the lock-up less attractive relative to risk-free alternatives.
Buterin announced the $43 million allocation in January, saying he had set aside 16,384 ETH to fund privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware, and secure software systems.
He described the effort as something he would personally lead as the Ethereum Foundation entered a period of “mild austerity” while maintaining its technical roadmap. The capital, he said, would be deployed gradually over several years.
Ether’s sell-off has widened the pain for corporate ETH holders. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, one of the largest, is estimated to be carrying billions in unrealized losses after ether fell roughly 60% in six months — dropping well below its average purchase price.