Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has pledged to donate all of his Layer 2 (L2) tokens to support public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem or to broader charitable causes.

The announcement comes days after allegations emerged that he sold millions of ether (ETH) for personal gain.

Vitalik Buterin denies any motive

Buterin quickly responded to the allegations, stressing that he has not sold ETH for personal gain since 2018. Instead, he clarified that all proceeds from the ETH sale have been donated to projects that contribute to the Ethereum ecosystem or to other charitable causes.

In a September 5 update, he expanded on his stance, pledging to donate all of his L2 tokens, including those that are not yet liquid, to support similar causes.

He wrote, “All proceeds will be donated, again, to either support public goods in the Ethereum ecosystem or broader philanthropy (e.g. biomedical R&D). I also have no intention of investing in L2s or other token projects for the foreseeable future.”

He explained that his goal in funding projects is to support initiatives he believes are important, especially in situations where other parts of the ecosystem may not fully understand their value.

Buterin’s History of Accusations

On August 30, Lookonchain reported that Vitalik had transferred 800 ETH, worth about $2 million, to a multisig wallet. Shortly thereafter, the wallet exchanged 190 ETH for 477,000 USDC.

Further analysis from Lookonchain showed that he transferred another 3,000 ETH, worth over $8 million, to the same multisig wallet on August 9.

These transfers have fueled speculation that the Ethereum co-founder is liquidating his Ethereum holdings for profit.

Buterin previously revealed that all of his Ether holdings came from Ethereum’s pre-mining period, when 11.9 million ETH (about 10% of the total supply) were allocated to early contributors. As one of them, he received 700,000 ETH for his role in creating the network.

According to blockchain tracker Arkham Intelligence, his current holdings are around 240,000 ETH. That’s about 460,000 ETH less than his initial stash.