Why Vitalik Buterin Has Extended A 'Big Thanks' To Shiba Inu (SHIB) Community

Ethereum ETH/USD creator Vitalik Buterin expressed his gratitude to the Shiba Inu SHIB/USD community on Wednesday.

What Happened: “Big thanks to the Shiba Inu community,” said Buterin in a Twitter post, crediting them for making AI Existential Safety Ph.D. fellowships possible.

In 2021, Shiba Inu’s developers sent 50% of SHIB’s circulating supply — 50 trillion tokens worth around $1.2 billion — to Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum wallet. The SHIB developers transferred the tokens with the intent of removing them from circulation, assuming Buterin would not sell them.

However, the Ethereum co-founder went on to donate the proceeds from all the unsolicited tokens in his wallet to various charitable causes, including India’s COVID relief fund.

Some of these funds were used to fund the Ph.D. program researching the safe development and deployment of AI. 

Why It Matters: Buterin has been an advocate for the responsible development of AI and has voiced his concerns over its potential effect on humanity. Last month, Buterin said that “unfriendly AI” is a bigger threat than World War 3 and said it could “kill off humanity for good.”

The program will fund students for 5 years of their Ph.D., with extension funding possible. It will cover tuition, fees, and the stipend of the student’s Ph.D. program up to $40,000, as well as a fund of $10,000 that can be used for research-related expenses such as travel and computing. 

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, ETH was trading at $1,490, down 5% over 24 hours. SHIB was trading at $0.00001174, down 5.7% over the same period.

Photo by Alexey Smyshlyaev on Shutterstock