Vitalik Buterin chose to sell 3 altcoins that were airdropped to him prior to the Shanghai upgrade. As prices suddenly drop, one of them makes a surprise rally up to 30x.
Vitalik Buterin traded these 3 altcoins/tokens for ETH
Before the Shanghai upgrade, the Ethereum founder disposed of low market value tokens such as Shikoku (SHIK), Cult DAO (CULT), and Mops (MOPS). The 3 meme tokens were exchanged for approximately 440 ETH worth $691,000.
According to details provided by on-chain tracker Lookonchain, “Currently sold 50 billion MOPS for 1.25 ETH ($2,000), 10 billion CULTs for 58 ETH ($91.00), sold 500 trillion SHIKs for 380 ETH ($600,000) ”
Shitcoin projects typically send their tokens to Buterin’s wallet address to increase his popularity in the crypto community. Most Shitcoins have a relatively low market cap, so the sale of Buterin drains their liquidity and triggers a massive price drop. One successful example of this was seen in the Shiba Inu. The Shiba team threw a gift at Buterin of half of their total supply. After its founder sold these tokens, SHIB gained popularity and turned into one of the most lucrative coins of the 2021 bull.
CULT and SHIK down, MOPS up 30x
Following the sale of Buterin, CULT and SHIK dropped in prices by 9% and 79%, respectively. Both memes continue to trade under selling pressure on the token. The Shikoku (SHIK) graph shows the 45% drop in about an hour at the time of writing.
Mops (MOPS) was the rally candidate. It rose 3,000% within hours of Buterin’s sale. The meme token made a battery of $0.000001505 from $0.00000003845, the lowest level recorded during the day.
Vitalik Buterin’s sales coincided with the market in the red
Although it is not clear why Vitalik decided to sell almost all of his wallet, this move was interpreted as a bearish sign for the market. The selling frenzy comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is already undergoing a significant correction, with the prices of major currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum falling by double digits in recent weeks.
It is worth noting that Vitalik has sold tokens in the past and its actions are often scrutinized by market analysts. However, the recent selling spree is particularly notable as it suggests that Ethereum’s co-founder has lost confidence in the market’s short-term prospects.
Despite the unfavorable market conditions, some investors remain optimistic about the long-term outlook for cryptocurrencies. They point to the growing adoption of Blockchain technology by large corporations and the growing interest in DeFi as proof of the market’s potential. You can take a look at the March news calendar of the crypto money market from this article of Kriptokoin.com.