Trona, Trona Everywhere: Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin’s Token Auction Sends Cryptocurrency Prices Plummeting
You heard it here first folks – when Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum do something, people take notice.
So it was no surprise when news broke last week that the co-founder of Ethereum sold off trillions of airdropped tokens at once, sending their value tumbling across the cryptocurrency market.
How much was a ‘trillion’, you ask? Well, it was precisely a 2,100,000 ETH worth. That corresponds to a staggering $62 billion.
And it gets better; this project was one Vitalik had a major stake in – namely, his token, SHIB.
How did he manage to sell 2.1 million ETH in one go?
Well, in a nutshell, using the Uniswap protocol – Vitalik put SHIB and ETH up for sale, and buyers could purchase them directly through the exchange. When the sale was complete, the exchange calculated how much ETH and SHIB Vitalik had actually sold. In total, the Ethereum co-founder sold 2,100,000 ETH.
What was the result of this huge sale?
Needless to say, the market reacted. Prices of SHIB and a few other illiquid digital assets fell. Crypto traders began speculating that Vitalik was cashing out his investments, which caused the price to plummet.
This isn’t the first time Vitalik has made waves in the crypto community. We’ve seen him do the same when he launched the DAI stablecoin, rolled out system-wide upgrades to Ethereum, and even when he was simply giving out advice. His presence has become so integral to cryptocurrency that it’s almost like he’s a godfather of the industry – if he says something, people believe him and follow suit.
At the end of the day, it’s worth noting that this was just a single, big sale. The market will eventually find its footing, and the prices of cryptocurrencies will rise again.
Experts’ Advice
In the meantime, the market is still in a state of turmoil – prices of some digital assets have taken a hit, and traders remain cautious. What’s more, many investors are beginning to ask themselves whether these early peaks in prices were all just part of an artificial bubble, as Vitalik had warned about.
Crypto experts recommend that investors look at digital assets as long-term investments, rather than hunt for quick gains by trading big volumes. We may very well be witnessing one of the biggest shake-ups the crypto market has ever seen right now, and it’s best to tread carefully until things settle down.
