How Did Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Vaporize $6.7B Worth Of Shiba Inu?

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain, recently described how he burned close to $6.7 billion in Shiba Inu SHIB/USD. 

During a recent interview on the UpOnly Podcast, Buterin said that in May 2021 anonymous developers sent him 505 trillion SHIB tokens, which were worth $8 billion at the time.

According to Buterin, the developers did this because they thought sending the tokens to him would effectively burn the tokens, decreasing supply and increasing demand.

During that month, Buterin sent SHIB and other crypto donations he received to various charities, including 50 trillion SHIB, around $1.2 billion at the time, to the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund.

He later burned about 90% of his remaining SHIB tokens. Buterin said to do so required a set of complex procedures to access and send the SHIB tokens. 

Also Read: Vitalik Buterin Says Ethereum Is Not Ready For Direct Mass Adoption

The funds were initially in a cold wallet in the form of two numbers written on separate pieces of paper. 

Buterin said he had to combine the two numbers to get the private key. He then entered the numbers into a $300 computer he purchased at Target to complete the transaction. Buterin then proceeded to burn the tokens and described the entire procedure as "scary."

Recently, Buterin took a set of Twitter polls asking people what they would prefer as a currency for transactions and savings if Ethereum was out of the running for the dominant coin in 2035. Different coins were listed in the two surveys.

In one poll, Cardano ADA/USD dominated, garnering 42% of the 245,261 votes. Bitcoin BTC/USD came in second at 30.7%, while Solana SOL/USD and the dollar trailed with 18% and 9.4% of the votes, respectively.

Related Link: Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin Calls Bitcoin Cash A Failure, Reflects On His Crypto Commentary From 2013

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