Recently, In the Ethereum news today, the Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, has once more made the news with a sizeable donation to a Swiss project. A Swiss project called Zuitzerland. Isla, a Web3 researcher developing the project, received 274 ETH, equivalent to around $500,000, from Buterin, according to reports. Identified by Onchain Lens, a blockchain monitoring site that tracks transactions.
Undoubtedly, this is no longer a new story to all those very familiar with Vitalik’s activities. He is a man of charitable acts and experimentation in the crypto space. The Zuiterland project is his previous Zuzalu experiment. The purpose was to unite like-minded individuals and engage in proposals on technology, longevity, and decentralized regimes.
The Donation:
The Zuitzerland initiative is based on the ideas launched in the Zuzalu experiment, a short-term community project. Initiated between March and May 2023, in Montenegro (south southeastern part of Europe). However, Zuzalu gathered about 200 participants who lived and worked together for two months. Exchanging ideas and teaming up on projects in the workshop and other activities. Activities like discussions and social gatherings.
Just in: Vitalik (@VitalikButerin) has sent 274.1 $ETH ($500k), as a grant or donation to a contract deployed by @0xisla, who is building @zuitzerland.
Vitalik’s Address: 0xd8da6bf26964af9d7eed9e03e53415d37aa96045
Contract Address: 0x69649512c97c630c4f06a21e09e71f0362ca74ec… pic.twitter.com/NusZDSp7tn
— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) April 1, 2025
Furthermore, Zuitzerland pushes this concept further by hosting residencies, hackathons, and citywide events for like-minded individuals. This platform talks about the need for the development of collaboration between “thinkers and builders.” Although Buterin is not among the founders of this project. Nevertheless, mentioned as a speaker and curator on the project’s official site. This indicated his endless support and engagement.
The Funding of The Ethereum Donation
It’s amazing how part of Vitalik’s funding was through sales of his token gifts. Gifts received from other concluded crypto projects. Additionally, data gathered so far from on-chain statistics, Buterin sold 5,000 Dohrnii (DHN) tokens. He sold them for $93,882 and 2 trillion LEDOG (DOG) tokens for $16,569 on March 31, 2025. Sales were aggregated and sent as 274 ETH to Isla.
According to history, this is not the first time Buterin has sold tokens gifted to him for a cause. In 2022, there were traces that he sold some Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens. Tokens to be donate to an Indian COVID-19 relief fund. Buterin has also publicly urged token issuers to give directly to charities instead of directly donating to him.
