A video has surfaced on social media where Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin revealed he sold 70,000 ETH tokens during its price all-time high. 

Buterin Acknowledges Shorting Ethereum

Crypto community member, MetaMan X, published a video post on X (formerly Twitter), disclosing a conversation where Ethereum Founder, Vitalik Buterin admitted that he had sold about 70,000 ETH tokens, essentially shorting the cryptocurrency during a major all-time high. 

In the podcast with American hedge fund director, Eric Ross Weinstein, Buterin spoke on the price of Ethereum and Bitcoin in 2017. During Ethereum’s previous all-time high in 2017, when the price of ETH rose as high as $1,600 and Bitcoin’s price was up $20,000, Buterin voiced doubts about whether the significant price surge truly aligned with the crypto market’s modest achievements over the years. 

“The crypto space has reached half a trillion dollars, does it deserve it?” Buterin stated. 

When asked if he had shorted Ethereum during the all-time high, Buterin stated that he had convinced the Ethereum Foundation to sell a considerable amount of ETH tokens, and the result of the decision made a huge impact on the cryptocurrency later.

“I did get the Ethereum Foundation to sell 70,000 ETH like basically at the top, and that’s doubled our runway now, so it was one good decision that had a lot of impact,” Buterin said. 

ETH price at $1,886 | Source: ETHUSD on Tradingview.com

Community Worries Over Buterin’s ETH Sell-Offs

Many crypto community members have raised concerns about the multiple ETH transactions said to be conducted by Ethereum’s founder. Recently, Buterin was spotted making a transfer of 100 ETH, worth about $181,000 to Coinbase, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. 

The motive behind the transaction has sparked curiosity among Ethereum investors and the crypto community. Earlier in August, Buterin was also reported moving 600 ETH worth $1 million to Coinbase. 

However, the Ethereum Founder had publicly clarified in October that he had not sold any ETH tokens for personal gain since 2018. He also stated that most ETH transactions were not him selling, but rather the recipients of his charitable donations selling the ETH tokens. 

The founder has also been caught in controversy over the weekend when Ethereum whistleblower Steven Nerayoff alleged that Buterin was involved in some sort of fraud involving ETH.

Nerayoff says Ethereum is linked to corrupt SEC officials to carry out this fraud which he says is on a larger scale than what happened with FTX. For reference, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of fraud charges after the exchange filed for bankruptcy in 2022 with a $9 billion hold in its balance sheet.

Featured image from Crypto News, chart from Tradingview.com

Bitcoin price carries on with its consolidation, seemingly ‘muted,’ with little to no action on the upside. However, bears are still beating hard on the lower range support, slightly below $30,000 – a situation that is worrisome among BTC bulls who have been eyeing a breakout to $35,000 and $35,000 following the climb from $25,000 to highs around $31,476 around mid-June.

Bitcoin Price Calm Before A Storm?

Bitcoin price has been stuck in a range channel since mid-June. Support on the lower range is now reinforced by the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) (in purple) at $29,839 while the stubborn resistance sits at $31,400.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator, moving horizontally below the mean line (0.00) implies that Bitcoin price lacks momentum to move either up or down. In other words, bearish and bullish forces are relatively equal and canceling out, leaving Bitcoin in a quagmire situation.

While other indicators like the Money Flow Index (MFI) appear to be leaning on the bullish side of things, the shrinking volatility makes it difficult to sustain an uptrend.

Bulls are slowly losing grip considering Bitcoin price has been entwined with the range channel’s support since Monday. They must hold onto the 200-day EMA support at all costs, otherwise, they risk a sell-off to $28,000 where more buyers could create more liquidity as they buy the dip.

On the flip side, a minor push above $30,000 could be the assurance buyers need to rally behind BTC for the anticipated breakout out of the channel. However, bulls must be ready to deal with the confluence resistance at $30,252 formed by the 50-day EMA (in red) and the 100-day EMA (in blue)—and subsequently the seller congestion at $31,000.

According to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, the sluggish price action witnessed for several weeks now could soon pave the way for a volatility period. Bitcoin’s 14-day price range rose to 6.38% in the last seven days and Glassnode underscores that with around 5.6% of all trading hours staying in the lower range of this value – BTC might see movement on either side in just a few days.

21k Bitcoin Options About to Expire – A Sell-Off On The Horizon?

Chinese crypto news reporter Colin Wu of Wu Blockchain highlighted on Friday during the Asian session that “1,000 BTC options are about to expire, the Put Call Ratio is 0.41, the biggest pain point is $30,250, and the nominal value is $630 million,” which might worsen the delicate the quagmire keeping Bitcoin price suspended marginally below $30,000.

If Bitcoin price fails to recover above $30,250 by the time the options expire, overhead pressure may dampen the market even further. Holding Bitcoin above the range channel might not be viable, with declines to $28,000 likely to take shape.

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John is a renowned crypto analyst and journalist, providing expert insights into both broad and focused aspects of the digital asset market. As a steadfast reporter, he keeps his audience updated with the latest news in the crypto sphere, delving into topics such as price trends, on-chain data analytics, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Centralized Finance (CeFi), and the ever-evolving metaverse.

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