Ether Risks Deeper Slide As Founder Vitalik Buterin Accelerates Multi-Million ETH Sales ⋆ ZyCrypto

The price of Ether (ETH) risks a deeper pullback, with the potential to breach the psychologically important $1,500 support level in the days ahead. This comes as Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin is selling millions of dollars’ worth of ETH, intensifying downward pressure on a market that is already struggling.

Buterin Offloads ETH ‘Faster’

Over a two-day period, Buterin sold 1,869 ETH, valued at $3.67 million, after withdrawing 3,500 ETH from Aave, according to blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.

Since February 2, Buterin has reportedly sold nearly 8,000 ETH in batches. These moves come after his January 30 announcement that he would liquidate his total holding of 16,384 ETH to fund ecosystem growth, support open-source projects, and other strategic initiatives, as the Ethereum Foundation adopts a period of “mild austerity.”

Vitalik Buterin “is selling ETH faster again,” Lookonchain observed in a Monday post on X.

Ether has dropped roughly 3.2% in the last 24 hours, briefly hitting a 20-day low of $1,843 earlier today, according to CoinGecko data. The token has been trending downward since reaching a peak above $4,946 last August.

Ethereum has fallen 19% so far in February, mirroring Buterin’s ongoing ETH sales. At the time of reporting, Buterin still controlled more than 224,000 ETH, valued at $429 million, according to Arkham Intelligence. Selling more of his stash could add further downward pressure on the market.

Past trends demonstrate that sales tied to a founder can intensify bearish sentiment in the market. For example, when he previously sold 6,958 ETH (worth $14.78 million), the token plunged from $2,360 to $1,825, marking a nearly 23% decline.

Although Buterin has been reducing his holdings, this supply is being snapped up by Ethereum treasury players such as Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies, which now owns a whopping 4.37 million ETH, worth $8.68 billion.

Despite a significant drop in the value of its ETH holdings amid the token’s dramatic drawdown, BitMine Chairman Lee remains bullish on Ethereum’s future. Following the Consensus Hong Kong conference earlier this month, he called 2026 a “defining year for Ethereum.”