The Doge wagon has hit a pretty significant pothole this week, and investors are wondering if the wheel’s falling off. A major meme coin whale, who never asked for the coins, is starting to move the unsolicited assets around. As a result, prices are dropping and holders are shaken. Could the summer of meme coins be over before it begins?
Vitalik Buterin, one of the founders of Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD), has been the target of a strategic meme coin-gifting model that several coins have undertaken. Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), one of the coins who gave Vitalik a huge 50% of its total supply, took a downward spiral as he offloaded the coins. More than $1 billion worth of SHIB wound up in an India novel coronavirus relief fund created by blockchain scaling play Polygon (CCC:MATIC-USD).
The transaction led to a frenzy. Investors say there’s nothing to worry about, outsiders say this is everything to worry about. Polygon’s founder has taken to Twitter to assure SHIB holders that the fund will be responsible with the coins, so as not to tank prices further.
Meme Coins: Buterin Disrupts an Entire Ecosystem
It’s not just SHIB taking the dive, either. Buterin would go on to move $431 million worth of Akita Inu (CCC:AKITA-USD), another meme token with significant supply tied up in Buterin’s wallet, to Ethereum fundraiser Gitcoin. Dogelon Mars (CCC:ELON-USD), mwDoge (CCC:MWDOGE-USD), and Our Shib (CCC:OURSHIB-USD) all also had given Buterin tokens which were moved en masse.
It’s easy to understand Buterin’s movements. He’s the youngest crypto billionaire, so he can afford to offload these meme coins without much thought. And, the meme coins that have so generously given them enough supply to crash their prices also happen to be the ones causing huge problems on his company’s blockchain. Thanks to transactions of these tokens, Ethereum is raising their gas fees to all-time highs, ultimately alienating investors whose portfolios don’t include multi-thousand dollar holdings.
On the date of publication, Brenden Rearick did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
