The Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has made more than $4 million from his investments in the meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (DOGE). In a podcast by MIT researcher Lex Fridman, he has revealed he invested $25,000 in the altcoin in 2016.
According to Buterin, he was impressed by the Dogecoin community, but had no objective reason to invest in the asset:
"I just remembered thinking to myself, 'how am I going to explain to my mum that I just invested $25,000 into Dogecoin?' Like, the only interesting thing about this coin is a logo of a dog somewhere. But of course, that was one of the best investments I have ever made."
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
Buterin noted he did not expect the speculative excitement caused by Elon Musk's tweets about the crypto. He said he was isolated in Singapore when the DOGE price soared 775% in one day.
The Ethereum co-founder has sold half of the coins and donated $4.3 million to non-profit GiveDirectly.
Buterin does not believe there is "sophisticated malice" in Musk's actions. According to him, the entrepreneur is "just a person who likes dogs."
He stressed Tesla and SpaceX will have to eventually adopt Ethereum at some point if they want to remain in the crypto ecosystem. Buterin added:
"Bitcoin is a blockchain for money, and Ethereum was originally created as a general purpose blockchain."