Vitalik Buterin has been moving Ether into stablecoins again. According to on-chain data, wallets linked to him carried out a series of swaps on CoW Swap, sending more than 3,100 ETH into stable assets in recent days. Related Reading: Bitcoin Buying Spree Nears Century Mark, Saylor Hints Reports from Arkham Intelligence flagged the activity, which lowered his visible balance to just above 224,000 ETH — still a very large holding. Latest Moves And What They Mean The numbers deserve context. A $6 million set of sales is small compared with a multi-hundred-million-dollar stake. Some of the transfers were public and routine. Reports say parts of earlier moves — about $29 million worth — had clear funding purposes. At least $2.3 million of that was used to back projects tied to the foundation’s work. That is a normal use of a treasury when teams need cash for development and grants. Funding And Foundation Plans The sale sequence also fits into a broader plan that was mentioned publicly weeks ago. Buterin signaled that roughly $44.7 million might be offloaded over time while the Ethereum Foundation tightens spending and adopts a more frugal stance. That mild austerity is meant to stretch funds and keep core programs running. Moving assets into stablecoins can be a defensive step: it reduces exposure to price swings while preserving buying power for future spending. Market Reaction And Price Pressure Still, markets are fragile. ETH has fallen, trading under $1,900 and hitting two-week lows in the recent session. The token is down sharply over the past month, and that drop amplifies any news about big holders selling. Prediction markets even assign a high chance that ETH falls to $1,500 before climbing back to $3,000. Traders react to signals; founder moves are a signal. That does not automatically mean the founder is abandoning the project, but it does feed short-term anxiety. Related Reading: XRP Fell Nearly 70% — Could History Repeat With An 835% Surge? Roadmap Talk And Longer View Beyond the cash moves, Buterin has been outspoken about technical direction. He argued the mainnet needs a rethink of how it works with layer-two rollups, and he backed an upgrade aimed at strengthening censorship resistance. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView