Said to be worth $1.5 billion, Buterin clearly isn’t in need of any handout, but the trillions of Shiba Inu that were sent to his public blockchain were worth an eye-watering $6.7 billion. What on earth possessed him to ditch 90% of the gift?
Marketing Stunt
As it turns out, this kind of gift is nothing more than a marketing stunt designed to catch the headlines and send the price skyrocketing. In this case, it clearly didn’t work because the Ethereum creator regifted almost the full amount.“I've decided to burn 90% of the remaining shiba tokens in my wallet. The remaining 10% will be sent to a (not yet decided) charity with similar values to cryptorelief (preventing large-scale loss of life) but with a more long-term orientation.”
This isn’t even the first time that Vitalik Buterin has been used in this way. At the end of 2020, Teller dumped $50,000 worth of their coins into Buterin’s wallet and then posted everywhere that he supports the TLLR coin. As soon as Buterin spotted the posts he was quick to publicly criticise the firm and denied having any support or relationship with them.
In the case of Shiba Inu, the stunt might not have been a complete waste of time for those who planned it. After describing itself as a “DOGE killer,” in reference to the popular dogecoin supported by Elon Musk, the price did indeed skyrocket, to as much as 900% on May 10, 2021.
This kind of price movement is enough to make some people a very handsome profit.
Buterin added, in his statement: “I don't *want* to be a locus of power of that kind.”
Some good did come of this, however, because one of the good causes Buterin donated to was the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund for around $1.2 billion.
Thanks @VitalikButerin
— Sandeep | Polygon 💜 (@sandeepnailwal) May 12, 2021
One thing we have learnt from Ethereum and @VitalikButerin is importance of community
We will not do anything which hurts any community specially the retail community involved with $SHIB
We will act responsibly!
Plz dont worry $SHIB holders. https://t.co/M4GxTR0JAn
We don’t quite know what to make of all of this. Vitalik Buterin is clearly one of a kind and there can’t be many more people alive that would have thought for a second about doing such a thing.
