Vitalik Buterin Sells Part of His MOONDENG Holdings to Donate to Charity

The Ethereum ETH/USD version of viral meme coin Moondeng MOONDENG/USD has picked up steam after Vitalik Buterin sold part of his holding to donate it to charity.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold a portion of his meme coin holdings, with the proceeds being donated to charity.

According to data from on-chain analytics provider Spot On Chain, Buterin sold 10 billion MOONDENG for 308.68 ETH, an amount valued at $822,000 at the time of the transaction.

Out of the ETH generated from the sale, a total of 260.16 ETH, or roughly $642,000, was donated to Kanro, a charity dedicated to developing anti-airborne-disease technology.

After the sale, Buterin still holds a substantial amount of MOONDENG, with his total holdings currently amounting to 40 billion tokens. At current prices, these holdings are valued at approximately $7.56 million, which constitutes around 9.51% of the total MOONDENG supply.

In addition to the MOONDENG sale, Buterin also sold $341,000 worth of meme-coins MOODENG, DEGEN, NEIRO, KABOSU and USDT for 140.67 ETH.

Of the total ETH generated from these sales, 100ETH was sent to the "Free Alexey & Roman" campaign, an initiative that aims to support the legal defense of TornadoCash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm.

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Buterin has frequently expressed his appreciation for meme coins that allocate a portion of their supply to charitable causes, encouraging more direct engagement from the community.

In a recent statement, Buterin highlighted the example of EBULL, a meme coin that recently made substantial donations to several groups.

He further suggested that meme coin communities could establish Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to involve their members more directly in decision-making processes related to charitable donations.

Buterin's call for meme coins to be "maximally positive sum for the world" reflects his long-standing belief in the transformative potential of blockchain technology for societal good.

The influence of meme coins is a topic that will be explored in depth at Benzinga's upcoming Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.