beincrypto.com
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin sold 10 billion units of the meme coin MOO DENG (MOODENG) and donated the proceeds to charity. MOODENG’s value spiked 300% in the wake of this sale.
Based on the current market price of $0.00018, Buterin’s MOODENG tokens are worth around $1.8 million. The sale is part of a broader trend of meme coin charitable transactions in the latter half of 2024.
Buterin’s MOODENG Sale
On-chain transaction data reveals that Vitalik Buterin, creator of Ethereum, sold 10 billion units of new meme coin MOODENG in six batches. Buterin explained this sale through a social media post, where he stated that these coins were given to him by their creator. Buterin added that any other coins sent to him would also be sold and donated to causes like anti-airborne-disease tech:
“I appreciate all the meme coins that donate portions of their supply directly to charity. I’ve said before that I think the best thing for meme coins is if they can be maximally positive-sum for the world, so it’s great to see moments when that actually happens,” Buterin said.
From one angle, this is just another step in Buterin’s recent kick of meme coin charity donations. In late March, Buterin commented on the charitable applications of meme coins, and 2024 has seen plenty of donations from him. In early August, he sold his entire stock of Neiro, and its creators asked him to donate some of the proceeds to an animal shelter.
He did this publicly, and Neiro’s value shot up significantly. Also, MOODENG has rallied tremendously since Buterin’s donations.
In other words, Buterin may have discovered a way to increase the value of these meme coins for charitable transactions. MOODENG’s creators didn’t directly contribute to charity, but their unsolicited drop benefitted disease prevention research nonetheless.
Hopefully, other meme coins will also try to make a name for themselves with new donations. Of course, it seems unlikely that every asset will get this price bump from Buterin alone. Meme coins get a lot of flak from certain sections of the crypto space, but maneuvers like this seem an unambiguous public good.