Author: Lance Datskoluo

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Brief: Vitalik continuously sold ETH, with another $8 million released this weekend. He describes this as a proactive financing activity during Ethereum's "mild tightening period." Interestingly, at the same time, major institutions on Wall Street, such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, are increasing their exposure to Ethereum by buying Bitmine stock—founders are selling while institutions are buying. This division itself is the most noteworthy signal in the current ETH market.

The full text is as follows:

On-chain tracking platform Arkham data shows that Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sold over $8 million worth of tokens from a personal wallet last weekend.

As of the time of this report, he is still continuously selling large amounts of ETH. On-chain data indicates that he is converting ETH into stablecoins repeatedly through the decentralized exchange Cow Swap, in batches of up to approximately $85,000 each.

This sale by Buterin is a continuation of his sale of around $7 million in ETH at the beginning of February. He stated at that time that this action was aimed at funding new projects, as Ethereum would "enter a mild tightening period" over the next five years to achieve its goals.

At this moment, the price of Ethereum has plummeted over 60% from its August high of $4,950. This decline coincides with the overall crypto market's major collapse—$2 trillion in market value has evaporated.

Buterin's roadmap includes: ensuring the long-term future of the blockchain, as well as making sure Ethereum becomes a "scalable world computer without sacrificing decentralization."

In January of this year, he announced plans to sell approximately 16,384 ETH, intending to use the proceeds "for these goals in the coming years."

In the past week, he posted several lengthy articles on X, covering artificial intelligence, language models, and security, implying more ambitious plans for Ethereum.

Institutions Buying at a Low

Of course, even though the flagship figure of this blockchain is selling, many well-known players are actively increasing their stake in Ethereum.

These include early crypto pioneer Erik Voorhees and Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee, both of whom completed eight-figure purchases in the past week.

Last week, Lee cited the tokenization progress on Wall Street and the application of AI tools to Ethereum as core catalysts, referring to the enhanced "product-market fit" of Ethereum as a reason for optimism.

"The neutrality of Ethereum, combined with 100% uptime and reliability, clearly positions it to compete for significant market share," he stated.

The largest banks on Wall Street are also supporting Lee with tangible actions.

SEC's 13-F filings show that BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, ARK Invest, Goldman Sachs, State Street, Vanguard, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, and BNY Mellon all increased their holdings in Bitmine stock in the fourth quarter of 2025.