Vitalik Buterin Exceeds Sales Target of 16,384 ETH for $38M in Total Liquidation

Vitalik Buterin has surpassed his previously stated plan to sell 16,384 ETH, with total disposals now reaching 18,684 ETH.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has surpassed his publicly stated goal of selling 16,384 ETH, with on-chain data showing the total dump has now reached more than 18,000 ETH, worth more than $38 million.

The sell-off, which has accelerated over the past 24 hours, comes as ETH battles a months-long slump that has seen it lose nearly 60% of its value since last summer’s high above $4,900.

Sales Accelerate Past Planned Target

Blockchain analytics company Lookonchain reported earlier Thursday that wallets connected to Buterin have now surpassed the 16,384 ETH limit he announced in late January.

The blockchain developer first disclosed its plan on January 31, 2026, saying it released 16,384 ETH to fund open source software and hardware development, privacy tools, and key security infrastructure projects.

He described the move as part of a period of “mini-reinforcement” of the Ethereum Foundation, with himself taking on financial burdens for certain initiatives to ensure the Foundation’s long-term sustainability.

Sales started at the beginning of February and took place in different stages. On February 5, Lookonchain reported that Buterin sold 2,961 ETH worth $6.6 million in three days at an average price of $2,228 per coin.

By February 6, total sales had grown to 6,183 ETH, with a value of $13.2 million, with an increasing pace later in the month. On February 22, on-chain data showed that Buterin withdrew another 3,500 ETH from Aave, and on February 23, Lookonchain flagged an additional sale of 1,869 ETH worth $3.67 million.

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However, the hardest work took place between February 25 and 26. According to analyst Ted Pillows, Buterin sold another 2.83 million dollars worth of ETH in the last few hours alone, bringing his February total to $38.2 million. The sale included an additional 2,300 ETH dumped after Ethereum posted a daily gain of 10%, its first such move in four months.

The transaction data shared by Lookonchain shows the majority of swaps being carried through the CoW Protocol, a decentralized exchange aggregator that breaks large orders into smaller swaps to reduce market impact. These batches ranged from 7 to 70 WETH and were executed in quick succession, pushing the previous amount of 16,384 ETH planned to 18,684 ETH.

Despite the rejection, Arkham Intelligence data shows that Buterin remains one of the largest owners, with more than 240,000 ETH still in wallets associated with him.

Ethereum Price Action

The price of Ethereum showed significant volatility during Buterin’s sales period. The stock is currently trading around $2,050, up 8.6% in the past 24 hours and 3.6% over the past week, according to CoinGecko. However, the token is still down about 30% in the last month and about 18% within one year.

Analyst Ali Martinez noted that the broad decline of Ethereum was accompanied by a significant outflow of ETFs, with data showing that in the past five weeks, institutional products have issued about 563,600 ETH, worth about $ 1.13 billion.

If the selling pressure continues, Martinez identified several critical levels to watch, with $1,800 as the immediate pivot, followed by $1,584, $1,238, and a deep layoff near $1,089.