Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sent over $1 billion worth of Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens to a charity that funds India’s ongoing COVID fight.
He additionally sent other ‘petcoins’ and ‘memecoins’ sent to his public address to several other charities.
Epic crypto donation spree by @VitalikButerin!
All AKITA tokens to Gitcoin Community Multi-Sig
13,292 ETH to Givewell
1000 ETH + all ELON tokens – Methuselah Foundation
1050 ETH – MIRI (AI safety org)
500 ETH + 10% of the SHIB – @CryptoRelief_
500 ETH – Charter Cities Institute— Hudson Jameson (@hudsonjameson) May 12, 2021
Shiba is a so-termed “Dogecoin Killer” that reached a $12 billion marketcap earlier this month. Buterin was sent 50% of the coin’s entire supply by the project’s creators back in 2020 as a means of ‘burning’ the tokens (or taking them out of circulation).
And Buterin held on, till today. But he didn’t choose to sell and line his pockets like a sleazy banker. He donated to India’s coronavirus charity instead—making it one of the biggest COVID donations from an individual.
The country faces one of the worst COVID crises on the planet, with over 3 million new virus cases reported per day on average (in the past week).
There’s a shortage of oxygen tanks, hospital beds, and, apparently, even money. Oxygen tanks, in particular, have turned into somewhat of a political tug-of-war with members of the ruling party hoarding up supplies for themselves (and people who vote for them).
Crypto types have stepped in to help. Last week, Sandeep Nailwal, the Delhi-based co-founder of layer-2 blockchain firm Polygon, launched the ‘Covid relief campaign’ to help the underprivileged in the country using crypto donations. Donors can choose from Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Cosmos, Tezos, Solana, Litecoin, and others.
Buterin had earlier donated over $640,000 worth of Ethereum (ETH) and Maker (MKR) towards the relief fund to fight the coronavirus situation in India.
What is Shiba?
On its website, SHIB is positioned as a “decentralized meme token” that locked 50% of the total supply to Uniswap and “threw away the (private) keys.” The project is launching its own decentralized exchange called ‘Shibaswap’ after audits are completed and seem to even have an art lineup for the future.
Shiba additionally boasts of taking enough care to ensure the team doesn’t dump on holders. “The remaining 50% was burned to Vitalik Buterin and we were the first project following this path, so everyone has to buy on the open market, ensuring a fair and complete distribution where devs don’t own team tokens they can dump on the community,” the site explains.
SHIB, a so-termed ‘petcoin,’ likely pumping on the back of Dogecoin’s meteoric rise in the past months, which has itself garnered massive publicity from the likes of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, webcam star Mia Khalifa, and business magnate Mark Cuban.
Meanwhile, SHIB is down 40% as of press time. Buterin did, in addition, dump over $500,000 worth of Akita Inu (AKITA), another petcoin that sent 50% of its supply to the Ethereum creator. But for now, all eyes are on the COVID donation.
Vitalik woke up and chose violence.
Market-dumped $580,000 in one of those DOGE imitators. pic.twitter.com/D3Qwv1xytD
— Nick Chong (@n2ckchong) May 12, 2021
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