Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya recently reminded Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin on social media about the significant SHIB token donations to the CryptoRelief initiative, which Buterin had overlooked.
Earlier this week, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced a $10 million BNB donation to Buterin’s open-source biotech project focused on public health. Buterin publicly thanked Zhao, Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal, and the CryptoRelief initiative but omitted mention of SHIB contributions.
This omission drew criticism from SHIB holders, as the anonymous Shiba Inu creator, Ryoshi, had transferred 50% of SHIB’s total supply—around 500 trillion tokens—to Buterin. Contrary to expectations that Buterin would hold the tokens untouched, he burned 410 trillion SHIB in May 2021, then valued at approximately $6.7 billion.
Additionally, about $1 billion worth of SHIB tokens were donated to the CryptoRelief fund, established by Nailwal, marking one of the largest cryptocurrency contributions and boosting SHIB’s prominence. Due to regulatory concerns in India, some donated funds were later returned to Buterin.
Following these events, Buterin partnered with the Shiba Inu community to create the Balvi Philanthropic Fund. In March, he acknowledged that SHIB had “massively outperformed” his expectations.