Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder, has pulled the plug on his Neiro holdings. The move sent shockwaves through the crypto community. Buterin offloaded a whopping 17.145 billion Neiro tokens early Monday.
The dump happened during Asia's trading hours. These tokens made up 4.08% of Neiro's total supply. Buterin was the biggest fish in Neiro's pond, according to the team.
Wu Blockchain spilled the beans on X. "Vitalik dumped the Meme Neiro on Ethereum," they posted. The Neiro team had gifted Buterin the tokens. They used this to hype him as the largest holder.
Buterin didn't hang around. He swapped the tokens for 44.4 ETH. This move sent Neiro's price into a tailspin.
Etherscan data shows Buterin walked away with 44.53 Ether. That's about $112.5K in real money. Not too shabby for a day's work.
The Neiro team didn't take it lying down. They fired off a cheeky tweet to Buterin. "Hey Vitalik Buterin, we see that you sold your Neiro bag," they wrote. They asked him to throw some bones to a dog shelter.
Neiro's not just another silly memecoin. They've got a heart. The project set up a fund for exchange listings and animal charities. They're all about helping stray dogs.
Just a day before Buterin's sell-off, Neiro was riding high. They'd bagged nearly $1600 in donations. This cash went straight to a Japanese dog shelter. It's the same shelter that houses the real-life Neiro dog.
Neiro's inspired by Kabosu, the Shiba Inu's sister. Yep, that's the same Shiba Inu from the Doge meme. Small world, huh?
Buterin's move hit Neiro like a ton of bricks. The token's value nosedived by 60%. Investors were left scratching their heads. It's a stark reminder of how risky these memecoins can be.
CoinGecko's data tells a grim story. Neiro plummeted from $0.022 to $0.013. It bounced back a bit to $0.015. But the bleeding didn't stop there. At press time, it's trading at a measly $0.011.
It wasn't always doom and gloom for Neiro. The token had been on a tear since its launch. It hit an all-time high of $0.19 on August 1. Its market cap was flirting with $200 million.
There's more than one Neiro out there. Colin Wu, a blockchain journalist, cleared the air. He confirmed it was the Ethereum-based Neiro that Vitalik dumped.
This whole saga's a wild ride. It shows how one big player can turn the crypto market on its head. Memecoins might be fun, but they're not for the faint-hearted.