Vitalik Buterin sold over 6,100 ETH as prices slid below $2,000, adding to heavy whale-led selling pressure.
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.
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At the time of writing, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was trading around $1,900 after losing about 7% in the last 24 hours and more than 30% over the past week. On-chain data suggests the pressure is not limited to retail traders, with a February 5 CryptoQuant report showing U.S. investors have been selling ETH at a discount, pushing the Coinbase Premium Index to its lowest level since July 2022. That pattern points to institutional de-risking during the current correction.
According to Lookonchain, other large holders have also been active. The firm reported on February 6 that Trend Research sold more than 170,000 ETH in under 10 hours to repay loans, while Aave founder Stani Kulechov sold about 4,500 ETH near $1,900.
At the same time, some entities moved the other way, with serial crypto investors, 7 Siblings, buying 9,000 ETH for just under $2,000 each as prices dipped.
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