Vitalik Buterin has clarified allegations regarding the sale of ETH and explained the use of the funds by the Ethereum Foundation to finance the development of the network.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has recently responded to growing investor concerns over the Ethereum Foundation’s ETH sales over the past few months.
Amid accusations suggesting that these transactions are negatively affecting the cryptocurrency's performance on the market, Buterin has come forward to clarify the situation. On X, several users criticized the Ethereum Foundation's periodic ether sales, which amount to around $11 million since January.
However, Buterin stressed that the organization has not been selling ETH for the sake of it, but rather to fund the Foundation's developers, who are working on crucial projects that seek to improve the network and its ecosystem as a whole.
The Ethereum Foundation has sold ETH to pay developers and researchers
According to Buterin, the Ethereum Foundation has used the sale of ETH to fund research and development essential to the future of the blockchain. For example, initiatives that seek to optimize network efficiency, as well as reduce gas fees and optimize performance in transaction processing. The Ethereum co-founder stressed that the Foundation has been working on innovations such as the Zero Knowledge (ZK) technology, which allows for more private use of ETH, as well as account abstraction, which will make it easier for users to interact with the network in a more fluid, simple and secure way.
Despite criticism from users and developers in the ecosystem, Buterin maintains that these ether sales are necessary to ensure the continued development of Ethereum.
Some users and investors have expressed concern about how these sales transactions could affect the ETH priceHowever, Buterin has urged community members to understand the importance of these funds to the progress of the network.
A mature governance strategy
In addition to explaining the rationale behind the Ethereum Foundation's periodic ETH sales, Buterin also discussed the organization's reasons for not rapidly increasing its staking holdings.
User @jason_chen998 questioned Buterin for choosing to sell rather than stake to obtain returns to help fund the work of the Foundation's researchers and developers, while also maintaining ETH holdings. Buterin responded that this was an internal decision and was related to not compromising the network's decentralized governance.
“One internal reason has been that we do not want to be in the position of being forced to make an “official choice” in the event of a contentious hard fork,” Buterin replied.
Additionally, Buterin added that the Foundation is considering several alternatives to solve current challenges related to governance and decentralization.
Vitalik Buterin and his unavoidable commitment to Ethereum
Buterin also stated that on a personal level, he has maintained a firm stance regarding his ETH holdings. Despite the selling allegations, the network's co-founder has assured that his personal holdings of the cryptocurrency remain intact and have, in fact, grown over the past month.
“I haven’t sold a single ETH in the last month. The amount of ETH I hold has increased”, responded Buterin on social media.
Buterin has been working tirelessly to ensure that Ethereum remains a robust and sustainable platform. He recently presented several whitepapers proposing improvements to minimize block production and reduce staking centralization, as well as his vision through the “Purge” upgrade, essential in the process of evolving the network.
At press time, Ethereum is holding a price of $2.490 per ETH, down 8% over the past week. Overall, the cryptocurrency market has been in a correction over the past few days, with several major cryptocurrencies experiencing drops of up to 24%, according to data from CoinMarketCap at the time of writing.
