Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold approximately 17,000 ETH during February, reducing his attributed wallets from roughly 241,000 ETH to 224,000 ETH, according to Arkham Intelligence data.
The sales follow a Jan. 30 announcement in which Buterin earmarked 16,384 ETH - worth approximately $45 million at the time - for privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware, and verifiable software projects.
The timing coincides with ETH falling more than 37% over the past month, with the token trading around $1,811 on Tuesday.
How the Sales Were Executed
Buterin sold 10,723 ETH since Feb. 2 for approximately $21.7 million at an average price of $2,027, per Onchain Lens data.
The most recent batch included 3,765 ETH sold for $7.08 million over the three days preceding Feb. 24. Arkham data shows transactions were routed through decentralized exchange aggregator CoW Protocol via numerous smaller swaps rather than single block trades - a method commonly used to reduce visible market impact.
A portion of the February sales followed a 3,500 ETH withdrawal from Aave (AAVE).
The $45M Open-Source Commitment
Buterin described the fund in January as a personal initiative to build "an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware" covering finance, communications, governance, operating systems, and biotech applications.
He said capital would be deployed gradually over several years. The move came as the Ethereum Foundation entered what Buterin called a period of "mild austerity," with him personally taking on funding responsibilities to support the Foundation's long-term sustainability.
His current 224,000 ETH - worth approximately $406 million at current prices - represents about 0.20% of total ETH supply, down from 0.91% in December 2015.
Market Context
The selling adds downward pressure to an already weak ETH market. More than 30% of Ether's supply remains locked in staking at a yield of approximately 2.8%, with validator entry queues near-record highs and minimal exits, per DropsTab data.
ETH liquidations totaled $112 million in a single 24-hour period this week, per Coinglass.
Bitmine, one of the largest corporate ETH holders at over 4.4 million ETH, is carrying billions in estimated unrealized losses after the token fell roughly 60% from its 2025 highs.