Dogecoin Spinoff SHIB Tanks After Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Dumps Tokens

By Jeff Benson

So, remember when Vitalik Buterin got a bunch of those Shiba Inu tokens? And then some folks warned that he could rug pull the Dogecoin-wannabe?

Well, it kinda just happened.

A wallet attached to the Ethereum creator today removed over 2 trillion in Shiba Inu tokens ($40+ million) from Uniswap, according to data from block explorer Etherscan, helping propel the token into a nosedive; SHIB has lost 20% of its value in the last hour, per Nomics.

Vitalik removing SHIB liquidity from Uniswap. Source: Etherscan

Shiba Inu, a Dogecoin knockoff, is a meme coin that calls itself an "experiment in decentralized spontaneous community building." Unlike Dogecoin, it runs on the Ethereum network, where it has helped contribute to a surge this week in the price of transactions. 

SHIB's developers sent more than half of the total tokens to Buterin. They figured that meant the tokens were practically "burned," or removed from the market as a means of decreasing supply and upping demand. Buterin instead burned SHIB holders by removing the SHIB from a liquidity pool on Unsiwap.

The autodidactic developer wasn't done, as he continued dumping Shiba Inu in favor of Ethereum. 

Taking the opportunity to clean out his crypto wallet, Buterin then traded 50 billion Akita Inu tokens for ETH, according to information on Etherscan, causing that dog token to crater by 30% in an hour. Forty trillion Dogelon Mars (ELON) tokens got the same treatment, getting swapped for 619 ETH. That's down a whopping 90% this hour.

Don't worry, though, shitcoin speculators. Your loss is a charity's gain.

Vitalik sent 500 of his just-bought ETH (over $2 million) plus 10% of the liquidated SHIB tokens to a wallet associated with the India Covid-Crypto Relief Fund. He gave the ELON tokens and another 1,000 ETH to a Coinbase wallet for the Methuselah Foundation, a medical charity for extending human life. GiveWell received $53 million in ETH, while Gitcoin, an Ethereum-based foundation for open-source development, received over half a billion dollars' worth of AKITA tokens.

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