Vitalik Buterin sold 5,000 Dohrnii (DHN) tokens, which he had received for free from Dohrnii Labs, for $124,000, causing the token to lose half its value.

This comes after repeated warnings from the Ethereum co-founder, advising projects not to send him tokens and instead donate directly to charity.

DHN’s Price Drops by 50%

According to an X post from blockchain tracking platform Spot On Chain, on March 18, Buterin sold 5,000 DHN for 65 ETH, equivalent to approximately $124,000. The stash was part of 10,000 DHN tokens sent to him by the Dohrnii Labs Treasury on January 29.

The Russian-born programmer received the coins for free, a common strategy used by projects to boost recognition by distributing assets to well-known figures in the crypto space.

Tuesday’s sale caused a decline in DHN’s value, with its price dropping by 50% in a flash crash, where it went from $38.505 to as low as $20.699.

The token has since regained its footing, moving up to $43.94 before settling at $39.75. While it is still down 11% over the past week, it has registered a mind-boggling increase of 3,400,535.6% across the last 12 months, per figures from CoinGecko.

Following this development, Etherscan data shows that Buterin still holds the remaining 5,000 tokens, which are worth nearly $190,000 at current market rates.

DHN is the native cryptocurrency of the Dohrnii ecosystem, a crypto education platform built on the Ethereum network.

In response to the market impact, Dohrnii Labs has offered to arrange an over-the-counter sale of the remaining holdings to prevent further price fluctuations.

Crypto Projects to Donate Directly to Charity

Buterin has repeatedly advised projects against sending him tokens, encouraging them to donate to charity directly instead. He has also previously emphasized that any digital assets sent to him ultimately go toward such causes.

In August 2024, he donated $530,000 worth of animal-themed meme coins to the Effective Altruism Funds’ Welfare Fund. Later that year, in October, he also liquidated over $1 million in these assets and contributed the proceeds to various non-profits.

In 2023, speculation arose that the 31-year-old was selling large amounts of ETH and other digital assets. However, he denied these claims, explaining that any transfers from his wallets were donations directed to charitable organizations, non-profits, and blockchain-related projects.

Most recently, Buterin reiterated his stance, suggesting that these initiatives set up decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to allow community participation in the donation process.

He added that he believes the best outcome for meme coins is when they positively impact the world, expressing appreciation for instances where this occurs.