A bombshell revelation has rocked the cryptocurrency world as an on-chain investigator has raised allegations connecting Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, to the infamous $500 million Gatecoin hack in 2016. According to reports, Buterin’s Ethereum Foundation was allegedly transferring funds to the primary wallet of the hackers behind the Gatecoin breach.
The accusations against Buterin were made by TruthLabs, a well-known crypto investigator and sleuth on X (formerly Twitter). TruthLabs claimed that Buterin was directly involved in Ethereum’s first hack in 2016, which resulted in the loss of tokens worth over $500 million. The investigator disclosed that the wallet funding the Gatecoin hackers had received Ethereum from only three sources. One of these sources was a wallet owned by the Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the ETH blockchain.
Furthermore, TruthLabs revealed that the second funding wallet originated from Ethereum’s Genesis Block 0 account and interacted with two primary addresses—a user-controlled Poloniex wallet and a contract set up by Buterin himself. The third and final wallet that funded the Gatecoin hackers was also generated from a Genesis 0 block and allegedly linked to the core Ethereum developer, Vlad Zamfir.
Based on these findings, TruthLabs claimed that an immutable ledger currently indicates Buterin and members of the Ethereum Foundation’s alleged involvement in the $500 million Gatecoin hack. The investigator suggested that the exploit likely occurred 30 days before the Foundation was set to run out of money, preceding the DAO exploit that saw millions of dollars lost just weeks after the Gatecoin hack.
As of now, there has been no official response from Buterin or the Ethereum Foundation regarding the allegations made by TruthLabs. The crypto community eagerly awaits further clarification and confirmation of Buterin’s involvement as the story continues to unfold.
In addition to the accusations against Buterin, TruthLabs also shed light on the recent developments involving Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. The investigator claimed that Bitcoin seized from Silk Road’s wallet had helped fund Ethereum’s 2014 ICO project and BTC wallets. TruthLabs criticized Buterin for allegedly failing to show support for Ulbricht’s release after he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 2015.
Describing Buterin as a “stain on the word integrity,” TruthLabs accused him of shirking his moral responsibilities by using Silk Road’s Bitcoin to build the Ethereum foundation without publicly advocating for Ulbricht’s release—a cause widely championed within the crypto community.
The shocking allegations against Buterin and the revelations regarding Silk Road’s involvement in funding Ethereum have sent ripples through the cryptocurrency world, prompting calls for transparency and accountability from key figures in the industry. As the investigation unfolds, the crypto community eagerly awaits further developments and responses from those implicated in the scandal.