Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has once again liquidated a batch of unsolicited tokens sent to his public wallet, converting them into 9.4 ETH, worth approximately $29,400 at current market prices. According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence and Lookonchain, the transactions occurred within a 30-minute window on January 13, 2026.
The sales were executed through decentralized exchange aggregators and bridges including LiFi, Socket Gateway, Across Protocol, and Bungee—a familiar process Buterin has employed for past disposals of airdropped assets. Among the tokens swapped were 7.528 OP, 4.508 million DEGEN, 23.988 million CHIB, as well as WOOLLY and IZZY tokens. One of the largest single conversions via Across Protocol yielded 4.496 ETH from a bundled token position.
This activity continues a long-standing pattern. Buterin has publicly stated he "sees no moral value" in these unsolicited tokens and prefers that projects donate directly to charity. In a message on X last year, he remarked, "Many projects have opted to send a substantial chunk of their supply to me... Anything that gets sent to me gets donated to charity too, though I truly prefer if you guys send to charity directly."
Historical data shows this is not an isolated event. In October 2025, Buterin sold tokens worth 1,101 ETH (about $2.78 million at the time), including 10 billion MOODENG, 200,000 MSTR, and 500 million EBULL, donating 360.16 ETH (roughly $884,000) to an anti-airborne-disease tech initiative. In January 2026, prior to this latest sale, he sold 340 billion DOG tokens for 5.2 ETH as part of a round that generated $139,000 in total proceeds.
Analysts note that such sales can cause "flash crashes" for the affected low-cap tokens, with some dropping by up to 70% minutes after his trades, as witnessed with the DINU token in early 2025. Buterin's primary motivation appears to be portfolio hygiene and converting "spam" into funding for public goods, aligning with his support for Effective Altruism. He has previously donated proceeds to causes like the SENS Research Foundation and a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.
Buterin's portfolio, as tracked by Arkham, holds total on-chain assets exceeding $763 million, with about 240,000 ETH ($752 million) constituting the vast majority. The recent sales represent a minor fraction of his holdings.
