Memecoin Fails to Gain Clout as Buterin Dumps Airdrop

A token named Neiro on ETH (NEIRO) sought to boost its reputation by airdropping 4% of its total supply to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, making him its largest holder. The token was inspired by Neiro, the new pet of the owner of Kabosu, the iconic dog behind Dogecoin (DOGE).

However, within just an hour, Buterin sold off his entire holding of 17.1 billion NEIRO in exchange for 44.5 Ether, valued at approximately $103,000.

The sale initially caused the token’s value to drop by 60% as the market reacted to the news.

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Following the dump, NEIRO’s X account addressed Buterin, saying:

Hey @VitalikButerin, we see that you sold your $Neiro bag. Our humble ask is that you donate part of the proceeds to a stray dog shelter. And thank you for building our playground!

Despite the dip, NEIRO’s price is still up nearly 45% in the past day, with its 24-hour trading volume at $9.26 million.

Meanwhile, the broader memecoin market has been experiencing a downturn, with the total market capitalization of meme tokens falling by approximately 24% over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to $30.18 billion. Among the affected tokens are DOGE, Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Floki Inu (FLOKI), seeing declines of between 21% and 24%.

The memecoin market’s recent volatility is a reminder of the fragility and speculative nature of these digital assets.

In other news, Bitcoin fell to $50,000 for the first time since February.

Gode is a Web3 Market Analyst who researches the most important industry events and interprets how they affect the wider Web3 space. Her formal education in media culture & digital rhetoric allows her to employ a methodical approach to evaluating critical Web3 news data, including large-scale events and the wider social sentiment within the ecosystem.
Gode is a mutilingual professional, having studied in multiple universities all across Europe. This allows her to have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to analyze Web3 social sentiments spanning different cultures and languages and, in turn, develop a much deeper understanding of how the Web3 space is growing within different communities. With the rest of her team, Gode works to identify crucial crypto news patterns and provide unbiased and data-driven information.
Gode’s passions include working and communicating with people, and when she’s not researching Web3 news, she spends her time traveling and watching true crime documentaries.