Vitalik Buterin sold about 2,961 Ether worth roughly $6.6 million over three days, shortly after flagging that withdrawals from his personal holdings were planned.
Blockchain tracker Lookonchain said the ETH was sold at an average price of around $2,228 per token, with Ethereum trading lower following the transactions.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows the sales were routed through CoW Protocol using multiple small swaps, a method typically used to limit market impact.
Last week, Buterin said he had earmarked 16,384 ETH, worth about $45 million, to support privacy-preserving technologies, open hardware and secure, verifiable software.
“Specifically, we are seeking the existence of an open-source, secure and verifiable full stack of software and hardware that can protect both our personal lives and our public environments,”
Buterin said.
He added that the funds would be deployed gradually as the Ethereum Foundation enters what he described as a period of “mild austerity.”
The sales come amid heightened market sensitivity as falling prices force leveraged Ether holders to reduce exposure, adding to broader sell pressure across crypto markets.
At the time of reporting, Ethereum price was $1,895.59.