Written by: Sanqing, Foresight News
In February 2026, the crypto market continued its downturn, with Ethereum experiencing a sixth consecutive month of decline on a monthly chart, with the largest drop nearing 30%. During this period, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's related address executed 532 sell transactions. According to Etherscan data, the last sale was completed at 19:40 on February 26, with the total amount sold by this address reaching approximately 19,326 ETH.
Image source: Bitget Market
Three "Transparency" Aspects: Announcement, Usage, and Public Execution
Vitalik's planned fund movements were announced in advance. On January 30, Vitalik posted a long article on his X personal account, stating he would withdraw 16,384 ETH (worth about $44 million at the time) from his personal wallet and gradually liquidate it.
Image source: Vitalik's Tweet
He explained that this move was his personal response to the Ethereum Foundation (EF) entering a "mild contraction" phase. EF plans to reduce its annual expenditure from 15% to 5% of its treasury over five years, focusing more on core protocol development.
Vitalik also detailed the fund allocation in his post. The proceeds from this sale will be used to support open-source projects and public goods, with a focus on privacy technologies (ZK proofs, Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), Differential Privacy), secure hardware, verifiable computing, encrypted communication, locally prioritized software, open-source operating systems, biotech/public health tools, and governance coordination mechanisms. These areas are often marginal but critical sectors after EF's contraction, and Vitalik emphasized that this was his personal decision to share the burden of EF's downsizing.
Additionally, the entire sale process was fully traceable on-chain. Vitalik used a single address (0xfEB016D0D14AC0Fa6d69199608B0776d007203B2) and executed the sales in batches through a single protocol (CoW Swap) to minimize market impact.
An "Unexpected" Aspect: Slightly Higher Execution Volume Than Announced
Despite high transparency, the actual execution slightly exceeded the initial announcement. The total ETH sold from Vitalik's address surpassed the 16,384 ETH forecast, reaching about 19,326 ETH (approximately 2,942 ETH more).
The sale started in the early hours of February 3, paused for about 10 days, then resumed on the 22nd, with acceleration in the last two days. Notably, on February 5, about 4,211.5 ETH were sold; on the 25th, about 2,283 ETH; and on the 26th, about 6,297 ETH.
Data source: Etherscan & Bitget | Note: Data as of the last sale at the time of reporting
Vitalik has not provided further explanation regarding the discrepancy between the announced total and the actual execution, or any unpublicized changes during the process.
Vitalik once stated: "Since 2018, I have never sold ETH for personal wealth accumulation. All proceeds have been used for donations, funding open-source projects, or charitable causes."
Image source: Vitalik's Farcaster post
Compared to some project teams quietly dumping tokens, leading to crashes or trust issues afterward, Vitalik's "public sale" approach seems healthier. At least on the surface, this ETH sale plan continues the path of transparency and non-personal profit.
However, objectively, when founders accelerate selling during a price rebound in a declining market, it could undermine community and investor confidence. Market sentiment is already fragile, and Vitalik's actions might amplify FUD, possibly compounded by the overall bear market pressure, pushing ETH prices further down. In the short term, this could increase holder sell-offs, impacting Ethereum's rebound potential and ecosystem stability.
