Vitalik Buterin Dumps ETH, DeFi TVL Falls Below $100B

Ethereum ETH $2 120 24h volatility: 5.8% Market cap: $255.95 B Vol. 24h: $50.40 B continues its bearish momentum toward the $2,000 mark as selling pressure persists from multiple sides.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has been selling the leading altcoin as the price fell into the $2,300 territory.

vitalik.eth(@VitalikButerin) is dumping $ETH fast!

Over the past 3 days, Vitalik has sold 2,961.5 $ETH($6.6M) at an average price of $2,228 — and the selling is still ongoing.https://t.co/Q9G1lEsdiP pic.twitter.com/C1vBn5UimJ

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 5, 2026

 

According to data from Lookonchain, Buterin sold 2,961.5 ETH for $6.6 million over the past three days. His average selling price is $2,228.

Spot ETH exchange-traded funds in the US have seen strong outflows since January 20, with very few inflows.

According to data from Farside, spot ETH ETFs registered a net outflow of $79.4 million on February 4, led by ETHA’s, a BlackRock investment product, $58.9 million sale.

On the other hand, some investors and whales have been accumulating Ethereum despite the dominant bearish momentum. A

Leading centralized crypto exchanges recorded a net outflow of 143,640 ETH, worth $335 million.

DeFi Weakens

Following the bloodbath in crypto prices, the decentralized finance sector has also witnessed a downfall.

According to data from DefiLlama, the DeFi total value locked decreased by 3.4% in 24 hours to $99.8 billion, a level last seen in May 2025.

The leading protocols Aave AAVE $121.0 24h volatility: 4.5% Market cap: $1.84 B Vol. 24h: $687.04 M and Lido LDO $0.39 24h volatility: 5.4% Market cap: $334.83 M Vol. 24h: $44.67 M recorded 4.5% and 7% declines in their TVLs, respectively.

With the falling prices, traders who have been betting on price falls have seen significant gains.

For example, Lookonchain data shows that a whale on Hyperliquid HYPE $34.51 24h volatility: 3.6% Market cap: $8.23 B Vol. 24h: $826.73 M , calling it the “super short 0x20c2,” made a $102.7 million profit by betting against ETH.

This is a party for the shorts!

The $ETH super short 0x20c2 has made $102.7M by shorting $ETH.

The $SOL super short 0x35d1 has made $55.5M by shorting $SOL, $BTC, and $ETH.https://t.co/kY8l74stCOhttps://t.co/nkUzama0zb pic.twitter.com/WySYPKXShe

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 5, 2026

 

Another whale gained $55.5 million by shorting Bitcoin HYPE $34.51 24h volatility: 3.6% Market cap: $8.23 B Vol. 24h: $826.73 M , ETH and Solana SOL $91.94 24h volatility: 5.2% Market cap: $52.23 B Vol. 24h: $9.01 B .

ETH is down 29% in the last seven days and trading at $2,100 at the time of writing. Despite the selloff, the top altcoin is seeing increased trader activity, as its daily trading volume has increased by 11% to $51 billion.

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