Vitalik Buterin Increases ETH Selling as Price Falls Below $2K

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold thousands of ETH over the past few days as the token fell below $2,000, according to on-chain data shared by Lookonchain. The sales came during a broader wave of large-holder deleveraging that pushed ETH to multi-month lows and added to already heavy selling pressure across the market. ETH Sales Coincide With Heavy On-Chain Distribution On February 5, Lookonchain reported that wallets linked to the blockchain developer had sold 2,961 ETH worth about $6.6 million over three days at an average price near $2,228. Less than 24 hours later, the analytics account said total sales over the same three-day window had risen to 6,183 ETH, or roughly $13.2 million, with the average exit price closer to $2,140 as ETH continued to slide. Some of the proceeds were quickly redirected, with Buterin transferring about $500,000 he earned from the sale of 212 ETH on February 2 to Kanro, a philanthropic initiative tied to open-source biomedical research. Kanro Fund confirmed the transfer the same day and said the funds will be used to support anti–airborne-disease and pandemic-related projects. The group also pointed out that the Ethereum stalwart has been funding similar efforts for nearly three years, including a $20 million personal contribution made in October 2025. Buterin has publicly addressed his broader plans, saying in a recent post on X that he withdrew 16,384 ETH to support work spanning biotech, secure hardware, privacy-focused software, and other areas outside Ethereum’s core protocol. He framed the move as part of a period of tighter spending at the Ethereum Foundation. Institutions and Whales Repositioning The price of ETH has faced some severe action in the last few days, falling well below the $2,100 level that many traders viewed as a key support area and underperforming Bitcoin as risk appetite faded across altcoins. At the time of writing, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was trading around $1,900 after losing abo...