The Strategist

Crypto-billionaire Vitalik Buterin donates over $1B to aid India



05/14/2021 - 04:20



Ethereum creator and the world's youngest crypto-billionaire Vitalik Buterin donated more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies to pandemic India foundation COVID-Crypto Relief and other organizations. At the same time, the tokens donated by Buterin have plummeted in value because of his actions.



John Phillips
John Phillips
The co-founder of blockchain platform and cryptocurrency Ethereum Vitalik Buterin donated over $1 billion in digital currency to India COVID-Crypto Relief, which helps India fight the coronavirus, and other organizations, the American Forbes reported.

Buterin donated tokens bearing images of Shiba Inu, Dogelon and Akita Inu dogs, which have risen in price following a powerful Dogecoin rally in recent months, Forbes USA noted. 

In a single transaction, Buterin transferred India COVID-Crypto Relief 50 trillion Shiba Inu tokens worth $1.2 billion (as of the time of the Forbes USA report). He also donated 500 Ethereum tokens to the foundation, TechCrunch writes, citing a tweet from former Ethereum Foundation nonprofit employee Hudson Jameson. Buterin had already donated $600,000 in Ethereum and Maker cryptocurrencies to the foundation in April.

Buterin has also donated about $441 million in Akita Inu cryptocurrency to the Ethereum-powered Gitcoin platform, American Forbes points out, citing data from Etherscan. 

The amount of money ultimately received by charities could be much lower than the original amount, as Buterin's actions have had a significant impact on the value of cryptocurrencies.

source: forbes.com, techcrunch.com