Much he was given and much he gave. Vitalik Buterin, the latest and youngest crypto billionaire, recently swept clean his public wallet containing trillions of Shiba Inu (SHIB) coins, dealing a nascent blow to the self-acclaimed dogecoin killer.
The 27-year-old high profile Ethereum co-founder who was gifted half of the total SHIB in circulation in order to regulate coin inflation, donated a whopping 50 trillion SHIB to assist the India COVID relief organization, knocking it off the canine coin contest and shredding over 40% of its market value.
This would not be the first time Vitalik has done crypto donations. Last year, the young billionaire donated over $600,000 to India and its COVID-19 containment for the world’s second most populated country. His largesse extends to Africa also as he has also given $1million to tackle the refugee crisis in Uganda and another $2.4 million to the SENSE institute in the US.
Shiba Inu’s Short-Lived Shine
At the start of the week, SHIB which rose from the ashes of obscurity, broke surprisingly into the top 20 coins table with soaring traffic and impressive market cap records, courtesy of Asian traders looking to enthrone a new dog king.
SHIBUSD Chart By TradingView
The coin which is chained to Ethereum’s native ERC-20 mainnet, drove traffic on the platform, soaring gas fees on the ETH network to unprecedented levels. This, analysts say, might be the reason why Vitalik decided to squash all the buzz and level down the soaring fees.
Shiba Inu, AKITA, AkamaruUNI, Dogelon, Coshi Inu, and many other newbie canine-themed coins were the major constituents of Vitalik’s $20 billion worth, with ethereum constituting only 6.5% of his total net worth.
With all the major contenders of the canine-coin league now relegated to less competitive levels, the coast seems clear for Dogecoin as early trading this week saw vital progress in value, following Elon Musk’s decision to associate the intrinsically valueless coin with his private space exploration project, SpaceX.
DOGEUSD Chart By TradingView
Amidst the hype, it is a tough season for Dogecoin as it continues to fend off tough competition with one hand and struggle up the crypto hill of relevance with the other. The hopes to upset Bitcoin at some point are clearly farther and harder than thought for the leader of the canine coin pack.
