Vitalik Buterin Unveils What He Did With 500 Trillion SHIB Donated by Ryoshi in 2021

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available. Vitalik Buterin and 500 trillion SHIB + other "next DOGE" coins Vitalik gets rid of SHIB and other meme coins Advertisement Vitalik Buterin, one of the Ethereum founders and the platform’s frontman, has posted a tweet about his donations over the past five years, including a large number of SHIB meme coins. In 2021, the mysterious founder of Shiba Inu, Ryoshi, sent Vitalik half of the initial quadrillion SHIB supply as a sign of respect and acknowledgement. Vitalik chose not to keep those coins, though. Here’s what he did with them. There are often posts mentioning that I donated a very large amount of funds to @FLI_org years ago and connecting me to various policy actions that they take. I thought I would make clear the record both on the nature of my connection to them, and on similarities and differences… — vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) March 13, 2026 Vitalik Buterin and 500 trillion SHIB + other "next DOGE" coins By publishing his tweet, Vitalik reacted to numerous X posts, saying that he allegedly donated a lot of funds to the Future of Life Institute several years ago, which also connects him to “various policy actions that they take.” Advertisement Buterin decided to “clear the record” regarding his connection to the aforementioned organization, sharing the details of how he disposed of half a quadrillion SHIB, as well as other meme coins he received from various sources in 2021. HOT Stories Billionaire Druckenmiller Claims Crypto Could Be New Reserve Currency Crypto Market Review: Unexpected Shiba Inu (SHIB) Breakout Recorded, Cardano (ADA) Grinds to Yearly Bottom, Is $71,000 Flashing on Bitcoin's (BTC) Horizon? In early 2021, Vitalik received substantial amounts of Shiba Inu and other dog-themed coins. He believes he received those “presents” because the creators of those coins wanted to use the “Vitalik owns half of our supply” scheme as a marketing gimmick and thus turn their coins into “the next Dogecoin.” Vitalik also stressed that back then, the market value of those tokens quickly surged and their cumulative “book value” surpassed one billion dollars. Advertisement You Might Also Like Thu, 03/12/2026 - 16:07 Vitalik Buterin Rewrites Ethereum's Core Values With Three Key Points That Will Define Ether's Future By Gamza Khanzadaev Vitalik gets rid of SHIB and other meme coins Vitalik then expected those coins to be a bubble that would “pop quickly” with a massive price drop to follow. Therefore, he sold what he could for ETH and used the proceeds to make donations. In particular, he sent some SHIB to the Crypto Relief initiative in India and to Sandeep. He also transferred some coins to the Future of Life Institute. He pointed out that he expected to cash those SHIB coins for a maximum of $10- $25 million. Instead, he managed to convert it into half a billion dollars. However, it is known that Vitalik also burned around 410 trillion Shiba Inu, thus sending roughly half of the meme coin’s supply out of circulation for good. Since then, the SHIB community, together with the team, continues burning SHIB coins regularly to increase the coin’s scarcity. Daily SHIB burns. Source: Shibburn #Shiba Inu #Ryoshi #Token Burn