Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has burnt billions of dollars worth of Shiba-Inu coin (SHIB) after being gifted half the supply of the meme crypto asset by its founders. Buterin has gotten rid of 90% of his SHIB stash and pledges to give the remaining 10% to an, as of yet, undetermined charity. In a transaction note where Buterin sent 410 trillion SHIB worth $6.7 billion to an inaccessible wallet, the Ethereum founder publicly announced his decision to burn the dog meme coin.

I have decided to burn 90% of the remaining Shiba tokens in my wallet. The remaining 10% will be sent to a (not yet decided) charity with similar values to CryptoRelief (preventing large-scale loss of life) but with a more long-term orientation."

The 410 trillion Shiba Inu tokens that Buterin burnt amount to about 41% of SHIB's total supply. Upon news of the burning, SHIB spiked over 40% from $0.0000129 to $0.0000184. The crypto asset is currently trading at $0.000017 at time of writing. Shiba Inu has been dubbed the "DOGE-killer," and has likely been the most popular competitor to Dogecoin (DOGE) in the recent trend of dog-related cryptocurrencies. At one point in May, SHIB was up 2,471% from its monthly open, making it one of the best performing cryptos in that time frame. Buterin's burning of SHIB and pledge to charity comes days after donating 500 ETH valued at $1.9 million to the India Covid-Crypto Relief Fund, which aims to help the country grapple with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.