Vitalik Buterin Liquidates $2.5M in Meme Coins to Fund Kanro Charity

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently transferred nearly $1 million in USDC stablecoin to his biotech fund, Kanro, on January 6, after selling a range of meme coins to support biotechnology research.

According to on-chain data , Buterin swapped 28 different meme coins for $984,000 in USDC.

These included tokens like CULT, DOGE, SHIB, and others referencing celebrities such as Elon Musk.

The total transactions amounted to approximately $2.5 million, converted into USDC and ETH.

The meme coins, sent unsolicited to Buterin’s publicly known wallet “vitalik.eth,” are often used by developers as marketing tools or tributes to the blockchain visionary.

However, Buterin periodically liquidates these tokens to fund charitable endeavors, such as donations to his Kanro biotech fund, which he established in 2023.

This organization focuses on advancing biotechnology research and other philanthropic causes.

Vitalik Buterin’s On-Chain Transactions and Philanthropy

Over the past several hours, Buterin has actively liquidated meme coins using platforms like CoW Swap, Uniswap, Kyber Network, and the cross-chain aggregator Odos.

Some tokens, such as DOBE, were sold in large volumes, though their thin trading activity made the price impact unclear.

One token, DINU, saw its value drop by 68% after Buterin exchanged it for USDC.

Buterin appears to be consolidating profits to fund Kanro and other charitable initiatives. Recent transactions also show donations to RiseUp, a privacy-focused charity.

In addition, his philanthropic efforts include previous contributions such as the sale of over $60 million worth of SHIB and other gifted tokens in 2021, with proceeds directed toward pandemic research, longevity initiatives, and AI development.

Meme Coins and the Broader Impact of Buterin’s Wallet

Buterin’s publicly visible wallet, associated with the vitalik.eth ENS name, holds nearly $1 billion in assets.

His largest holding is over 240,000 ETH, valued at approximately $873 million, alongside derivative tokens from AAVE, WHITE tokens from the WhiteRock platform, and wrapped ETH.

Beyond liquidating meme coins, Buterin has encouraged communities to form DAOs and make direct donations to charitable causes, tweeting:

“Anything sent to me gets donated to charity, but I prefer if you donate directly,”

In October 2024, Buterin’s sales of Popcat and other meme tokens generated $2.24 million in Ethereum, which was used for donations.

He also contributed 10 million Thai Baht (approximately $290,000) to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand to support the care of Moo Deng, an internet-famous hippo.

Additionally, proceeds from meme coins like NEIRO and MOODENG have supported campaigns such as “Free Alexey Roman,” aiding Tornado Cash developers facing trial in New York.

Beyond philanthropy, Buterin continues to support Ethereum’s growth, recently endorsing Optimism’s SuperchainERC20 update to improve Ethereum’s scalability.

He has also proposed reducing Ethereum’s staking requirement from 32 ETH to 16 ETH, with a long-term goal of lowering it to 1 ETH.