It can be recalled that Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum blockchain, received half of the supply of the popular meme token Shiba Inu (SHIB) from its founders in 2021.
After receiving the tokens, Buterin did something unexpected. He donated about $1 billion worth of the SHIB tokens he was gifted to the Indian Covid-19 relief fund, before destroying the rest.
According to the latest development, $100 million of the donated funds will be sent back to the Ethereum co-founder.
Sandeep Nailwal, the founder of CryptoRelief, who also co-founded Ethereum sidechain scaling solution Polygon, made this known in a series of tweets on 28th January 2022.
In the update, Sandeep stated that the decision was taken to accelerate relief efforts in India. He said as an entity based out of India, his firm has been cautious to be in full compliance of Indian jurisdiction.
Sandeep Nailwal noted:
“CryptoRelief Update: Have been in discussions with Vitalik Buterin on how to accelerate relief efforts in India. And we have come up with a solution, we will moving $100mn USDC back to Vitalik, a non-Indian, to do fast deployment in high risk/reward projects.
“Since inception, CryptoRelief, has been extra cautious to be in full compliance of Indian jurisdiction, even though Cryptorelief entity is based out of India.”
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He added that “Vitalik being a non-Indian can do it in a more accelerated way by being able to do faster decision making and deploying to projects which have higher risk but high rewards too.”
Sandeep concluded by saying that his firm still has 302 million in USDC reserved for disbursement in India. He added that relatively 70 million USDC has been disbursed so far:
“CryptoRelief still reserves, 302mn USDC (Apart from ~70mn that it has already deployed) to keep disbursing in areas of need in India as it is. Cryptorelief wishes all the best to Vitalik’s team and may this amount help in creating better world & future for all.”
Vitalik Buterin Corroborates
Vitalik Buterin corroborated Sandeep’s announcement with further details on how the $100 million worth of SHIB will be spent.
According to the Ethereum co-founder, the funds will be invested in projects of a very high value and global, which will eventually benefit both Indians and non-Indians.
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Vitalik Buterin tweeted, “CryptoRelief sending $100m of the $SHIBA funds back to me. I plan to personally deploy these funds with the help of science advisors to complement CryptoRelief’s existing excellent work with some higher-risk higher-reward covid science and relief projects worldwide.”
CryptoRelief sending $100m of the $SHIBA funds back to me. I plan to personally deploy these funds with the help of science advisors to complement CryptoRelief's existing excellent work with some higher-risk higher-reward covid science and relief projects worldwide. https://t.co/xvHxzwwdn8
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 28, 2022
Buterin said the projects will include “vaccine R&D, innovative approaches to air filtration and ventilation, testing and much more.”