Vitalik Buterin moves $8M Ether to new wallet — Possible donation ahead?

The Ethereum co-founder has a history of making multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency donations.

Vitalik Buterin’s address has transferred over $8 million worth of Ether to a new wallet.

Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum network, transferred 3,000 Ether (ETH) tokens worth over $8 million to a new multisignature wallet.

The transfer could signal Buterin’s intention to make a potential donation, according to an Aug. 9 X post by Lookonchain. The blockchain intelligence firm wrote:

“vitalik.eth transferred 3,000 $ETH ($8.05M) to a multi-sig safe wallet 20 mins ago, possibly as a donation.”

The funds were sent to an unknown wallet, “0xfEB,” which could potentially belong to a charitable organization.

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Buterin’s history of billion-dollar crypto donations

The $8 million transfer wouldn’t be the first time that Buterin made a valuable cryptocurrency donation.

Back in May 2021, Buterin donated over $1.2 billion worth of crypto to the Indian Covid-Crypto Relief Fund.

Buterin executed the billion-dollar charitable transfer via over 50 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens, blockchain data shows.

Buterin has also sent over $441 million worth of Akita (AKITA) coins to open-source bug bounty platform Gitcoin and has previously donated a high amount of dog-themed memecoins.

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Crypto donations could surpass $10 billion in a decade

Crypto donations are gaining more ground due to amplifying speed and global reach during a crisis, compared to less efficient donations via the legacy fiscal system.

According to crypto charity platform The Giving Block, crypto donations are set to exceed $10 billion in a decade.

According to The Giving Block’s 2023 annual report titled “Crypto Philanthropy Data, Trends & Predictions,” all-time crypto donations in the platform surpassed $125 million in 2022.

Based on the available data, the crypto charity project predicted that it could top $1 billion by August 2027, reach $5 billion in June 2031 and exceed the $10 billion mark in November 2032.

Beyond global crises, crypto donations are also gaining ground in politics. Earlier in May, former United States President Donald Trump announced that his presidential campaign would accept cryptocurrency donations.