Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold 1,869 ETH worth roughly $3.67 million over the past two days, a stretch during which the token's price fell 5.7% from $1,988 to $1,875 and traded near $1,884 at press time.
What Happened: Buterin Resumes Selling
Lookonchain flagged the sales on Feb. 22, noting they followed a two-week pause in activity. "After a two-week break, vitalik.eth(@VitalikButerin) is selling ETH again!" the account wrote, adding that Buterin had withdrawn 3,500 ETH ($6.95 million) from lending protocol Aave before beginning to offload portions.
The withdrawal-then-sell sequence is significant. Traders typically distinguish between passive wallet transfers and deliberate liquidation, and pulling tokens from a lending platform to sell them reads as the latter.
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Why It Matters: Founder Flows Shape Sentiment
The correlation between Buterin's wallet activity and ETH price declines does not establish causation. But founder wallets are among the most closely watched addresses in crypto, and visible selling from a top holder can become a focal point for positioning when price is already trending lower.
For traders, the question now is whether these sales remain a contained, trackable flow or turn into the kind of recurring headline that pulls liquidity and sentiment down simply by staying visible.
If additional wallet-linked sales surface, market participants will likely keep testing the pattern against price rather than treating the selling as the sole driver.
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