Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Discloses Non-ETH Crypto Holdings and Other Revenue Sources

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin has disclosed that his crypto investments are virtually exclusively devoted to the Ethereum network, in a post published to an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) Reddit thread on Feb. 18.

The AMA post is dedicated the Ethereum leadership and accountability, asking those in leadership positions in the ETH community to share their possible conflicts of interest.

In Buterin’s summary, his total holdings of non-Ethereum ecosystem tokens — comprising Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Zcash (ZEC) — account for less than 10 percent of the value of his Ethereum holdings.

A further set of non-ETH Ethereum ecosystem tokens — comprised of Kyber (KNC), OmiseGo (OMG), Maker (MKR), (OMG) and Augur (REP) — are similarly reportedly collectively worth less than 10 percent of Buterin’s Ethereum (ETH) holdings.

Buterin also disclosed on the AMA that he has “significant corporate shareholdings” in blockchain research and development firm Clearmatics, as well as in scalability- and privacy-focused blockchain startup Starkware. The latter notably develops cryptographic technology such as zero-knowledge proofs, of which Buterin is a vocal proponent.

Aside from this, Buterin revealed his external revenue over the past 12 months — aside from the Ethereum Foundation — was accounted for by his advisory role for the tokens disclosed in his holdings.

Vitalik also discussed his non-financial involvement in other blockchain projects — including the ecosystems for the aforementioned tokens — as well as several non-token-based Ethereum-related organizations; such as L4, Plasma Group, EthGlobal and EDCON.

He is also reportedly involved in several non-token-based and non-Ethereum organizations — “mainly professional cryptography and economics circles” — which he didn’t specify.

As reported, Vitalik has recently been engaged in an Ethereum developers’ discussion in regard to a new smart contract creation feature set to be released in the forthcoming Constantinople hard fork.

Some community members had voiced their concerns that the feature could have negative security implications, which Buterin refuted, while emphasizing the need to evolve the feature in question with a longer roadmap in view.