Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has announced that he will donate all of his Layer 2 (L2) tokens to support public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem and other charitable endeavors. This commitment highlights his intention to use these assets for philanthropic purposes rather than for personal profit.
This announcement follows recent claims suggesting Buterin had sold a substantial amount of Ether (ETH) for personal benefit. Buterin quickly addressed these allegations, clarifying that he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018. He emphasized that any ETH he has sold was used to fund projects that support Ethereum or other charitable causes.
In a statement on September 5, Buterin detailed his plan to donate all his L2 tokens, including those that are not yet liquid. He confirmed that the funds would be allocated to public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem or to other charitable activities such as biomedical research. Buterin also mentioned that he does not plan to invest in L2 or similar projects in the foreseeable future.
The allegations surfaced on August 30, when a user on X accused Buterin of selling over $2 million in ETH shortly after he posted a positive update about Ethereum. Lookonchain later revealed that Buterin had moved 800 ETH, worth around $2 million, to a multi-signature wallet, which then exchanged 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC. Additional transfers of ETH to the same wallet further fueled speculation about his intentions.
Buterin has previously noted that his Ether holdings are from Ethereum’s pre-mining phase, where early contributors received a share of the total supply. As a key contributor, Buterin was allocated 700,000 ETH. Current data from blockchain tracker Arkham Intelligence shows his remaining holdings are approximately 240,000 ETH, down from his initial allocation of around 700,000 ETH.
Through his pledge, Buterin aims to support meaningful projects and address critical needs within the Ethereum ecosystem that may not yet be fully acknowledged.
