Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has once again made the news with a large donation a Swiss project called Zuitzerland. Isla, a web3 researcher who developed the project, received 274 EthicsThe equivalent of approximately $ 500,000, from Buterin, according to reports. The donation was identified by Onchain Lens, a blockchain monitoring site that tracks funding transfers.
This step is not surprising to someone who has known Buterin’s charity activities and experimental associations. Zuitzerland is said to be a product from Buterin’s previous Zuzalu -experimentwhose purpose was to unite like -minded people and get involved in proposals for technology, life span and decentralized regimes.
Ethereum -Donation: What is Zuitzerland?
The Zuitzerland initiative is based on the ideas launched in the Zuzalu experiment, a short-term social project initiated by Buterin between March and May 2023, in Montenegro. Zuzalu gathered about 200 participants who worked and lived together for two months. They exchanged ideas and collaborated with projects together in workshops, discussions and social gatherings.
Only in: vital (@Vitalikbuterin) have sent 274.1 $ ($ 500k), as a contribution or donation to a contract distributed by @0xislathat builds @Zuitzerland.
Vitalik’s address: 0xd8da6bf26964af9d7EED9E03E53415D37AA96045
Contract address: 0x69649512C97C630C4F06A21E09E71F0362CA74EC … pic.twitter.com/nuszdsp7tn
– Onchain Lens (@onchainlens) April 1 2025
Zuitzerland further runs this concept by hosting housing, hackathons and urban events for those with common interests. The platform emphasizes the development of collaboration between “thinkers and builders.” Although Buterin is not among the founders of the project, he is mentioned as a speaker and curator on its official website, which indicates his support and commitment.
Financing through token sales
Buterin’s contribution was partly funded by selling tokens that he previously received as gifts from other crypto projects. According to statistics on the chain sold Buterin 5,000 Dohrii (DN) Tokens for $ 93 882 and 2 trillion Ledog (dog) Tokens for $ 16,569 on March 31, 2025. The revenue from these sales was aggregated and then sent as 274 ETH to Isla.
ETHUSD trading at $1,873 on the daily chart: TradingView.com
This is not the first time that Buterin has sold the tokens talented to him for one thing. In 2022 he sold some Shiba Inu (Shib) tokens who were gifted to him to donate to an Indian Covid-19-Lättness Fund. Buterin has also publicly urged the token issuers to give directly to charities instead of donating tokens to him.
A story of token donations
Dohrnii Labs, the developers of the DHN token, had sent 10,000 tokens to Buterin in January 2025. Similarly, Ledog’s developer sent 10 trillion to him in August 2024. Although these tokens are usually given as an estimate, they are also a marketing strategy for visibility. Buterin has sold these symbols gradually over time with the help of the funds for donations and other things.
From now on, Buterin still retains 2 trillion dog tokens, according to Blockchain data. Nevertheless, his actions reveal a distinct orientation to exploit such assets to help initiatives as Zuitzerland, which is in line with his belief in decentralized governance and innovation led by society.
Image from Gemini Imagen, Chart from TradingView
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