Vitalik Buterin Wallet Sells Airdropped Memecoins for ETH, Arkham Data Shows

According to Arkham Intelligence and Onchain Lens, a wallet attributed to Vitalik Buterin has resumed selling unsolicited memecoins, including ASTEROID-2, with reported proceeds exceeding $260,000 and related tokens seeing sharp volatility.

ETH

USDC

32d ago

Fact Check

The numerical core of the claim is specifically supported by Panews, which states that Vitalik Buterin sold 40 million ASTEROID-2 for 114,566 USDC and attributes it to an Onchain Lens post. The market-reaction portion is separately corroborated by Odaily, which reports ASTEROID briefly surged more than 100% after news related to Vitalik's sale. However, confidence is limited because the directly cited primary X posts could not be fetched in this run due to API rate limits, and the Arkham entity page could not be accessed. So the claim is supported but not fully closed with primary-source retrieval.

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Summary

According to Arkham Intelligence and Onchain Lens, a wallet attributed to Vitalik Buterin has resumed liquidating unsolicited memecoins sent to it through airdrops or gifts. Onchain Lens reported that on April 29 the wallet sold 40 million ASTEROID-2 for 114,566 USDC as part of more than $260,000 in total gifted memecoin sales, while Arkham described the broader activity as converting unsolicited token proceeds into ETH from an address identified in part as 0xAb5. GMGN said the Ethereum-based ASTEROID meme coin later rose more than 100% to a $14.5 million market capitalization after news of the sale, underscoring how transactions from a high-profile wallet can quickly move thinly traded meme-token markets.

Terms & Concepts

Airdrop: A token distribution method in which crypto assets are sent to wallet addresses, sometimes without the recipient requesting them.
ETH: The native asset of the Ethereum blockchain, commonly used to pay network fees and as a trading pair for other tokens.
Memecoin: A cryptocurrency typically inspired by internet culture or jokes, often driven more by community attention and speculation than by core utility.