Vitalik's Regift of Unsolicited DOGE Knockoffs Sends Memecoin Prices Plunging

Vitalik Buterin has told dog-themed memecoin creators to bark up another tree.

In a move that captivated the attention of Crypto Twitter on Wednesday, the Ethereum founder regifted tokens sent to his public wallet by the creators of Shiba Inu coin (SHIB), dogelon (ELON), Akita Inu (AKITA), mwDOGE (mwDOGE) and OURSHIB (OSHIB), blockchain records show.

Notably, Buterin donated 50 trillion SHIB tokens (worth a nominal $1.2 billion at press time) to the India Covid Relief Fund kicked off by Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal late last month. He also sent about $431 million of AKITA to Gitcoin, a public Ethereum-based fundraising platform, according to Etherscan.

Memecoin creators have been sending large amounts of their tokens to the Ethereum figurehead in recent days. CryptoSlate reported Monday Vitalik was sent trillions of SHIB tokens worth over $8 billion at one point.

The memecoin mania has caused Ethereum gas fees to surge to staggering highs, perhaps animating the network's founder to strike back.

With a multibillion-dollar net worth, Buterin can afford to be generous with tokens sent to him permissionlessly.

SHIB is down roughly 38% since Buterin started unloading but still boasts a market cap of $9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

The coin has had more than $7 billion in volume in the last 24 hours.