How Effective Altruists Influenced Vitalik Buterin to donate $1 Billion in Crypto Meme Coins

This may be the first in a sequence of posts sharing little-known interesting stories from the history of Effective Altruism.

In 2021, Effective Altruists played a role in encouraging Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, to liquidate and donate a substantial portion of his meme coin holdings, valued at billions, to high-impact causes such as COVID-19 relief efforts in India. Here’s a chronological breakdown of the what worked and the individuals involved. I have no connection to any of the people involved.

🗓️ Late April to Early May 2021

  • Background: Vitalik Buterin had been gifted large quantities of meme tokens like SHIB and AKITA, totaling approximately $13 billion at their peak.

  • These tokens were sent by their creators to Vitalik’s public wallet as a publicity stunt, assuming he would never cash them out.

🗓️ May 7-10, 2021

  • In an Effective Altruism (EA) Facebook group, Greg Colbourn noticed this massive holding and highlighted the high expected value (EV) of reaching out to Vitalik to suggest donating a portion.

  • Proposal by Greg Colbourn:

    “Looks pretty high EV to Tweet/​otherwise contact him suggesting he cashes out ~ a billion dollars for EA causes.”

  • Source Post Discussion Thread: EA Discussion Archive

🗓️ May 10-12, 2021

  • Luke Cockerham suggested avoiding public tweets to prevent market participants from anticipating a sell-off.

    “Tweeting him would be a poor way to get his attention without alerting other market participants that there might become a huge seller in the marketplace.”

  • Contact Suggestions:

  • Giego Caleiro attempted to reach Vitalik’s father. His interpretation was that the message would reach Vitalik indirectly despite his father’s non-committal response.

🗓️ May 12-13, 2021

  • Vitalik began liquidating significant portions of his meme coin holdings and donating the proceeds.

  • Breakdown of Donations (via Hudson Jameson on Twitter):

    • 13,292 ETH to GiveWell

    • 1,050 ETH to Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI)

    • 500 ETH to Charter Cities Institute

    • $1 Billion in SHIB to CryptoRelief (COVID Relief Fund India)

  • Hudson Jameson’s Summary on Twitter: Hudson Jameson Tweet

🗓️ May 13, 2021: Community Reactions and Reflection

  • William Eden: “This was the best possible use of a shitcoin airdrop. Vitalik absolutely rocks.”

  • Ezra Malafaia: Praised members of the community for taking bold action.

  • Greg Colbourn:

    “I’m not sure if we can claim credit, but we might well have had some influence.”

🗓️ Mid-May 2021

  • Following this success, EA-aligned charities prioritized setting up multi-signature Ethereum wallets to handle future donations more effectively.

  • ALLFED Wallet Example: Gnosis Safe Wallet for ERC-20 Donations

🗓️ May 14-20, 2021: Media Coverage Picks Up

  • Major media outlets began covering the story:

    • Vox Article: The World of Crypto Philanthropy is About to Get Weird

    • Celebrity Net Worth: Vitalik Buterin’s $14 Billion Meme Coin Fortune

🗓️ Late May 2021: Reflecting on Success and Future Plans

  • Greg Colbourn: Emphasized the need for EA charities to maintain multisig ETH wallets for efficient handling of large-scale crypto donations.

  • CEEALAR Multisig Wallet Setup: CEEALAR Fundraising Page