Vitalik Buterin Faces “Community Rage” Over COVID-19 Post

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is currently facing backlash from the community who believe he is delving into controversial subjects
By Godfrey Benjamin
Updated February 19, 2025
Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Calls Out Political Tokens, Here’s Why

Highlights

  • Vitalik Buterin just got slammed over COVID-19 remark
  • The developer has a strong interest in COVID-19 dating back to 2021
  • His interest might see more startups funded in the coming months

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has come under fire over a new controversial subject he waded into recently. As an outspoken nerd, one of the commenters on his post about COVID-19 has advised him to stick to core blockchain subjects.

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The Vitalik Buterin Controversy

The conversation started when the Ethereum innovator posted a photo of him on X with a special face mask. He said while the world needs to do more to clean up indoor air, he gave a thumbs up to a face mask innovator Zhou Liang’s Mask.

The face mask essentially measures C02 in the immediate surroundings. It is also designed to protect the user from inhaling the bad air in the environment. It also helps detect the COVID-19 variants in atmosphere which to Buterin has continued to evolve. Despite the positive intention from Vitalik Buterin, he got “canceled out” by the community.

One user asked how this conversation will help the industry as a whole. This statement possibly stemmed from the global disparity and reception of COVID-19 vaccines. However, Vitalik Buterin has a deep interest in COVID-19 amelioration.

As reported by Coingape, the Ethereum founder once donated up to $1.2 billion in Shiba Inu and other tokens to COVID-19 non-profit in India. This donation comes off as one of the many attempts to find solution to real world problem by Buterin.

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The Passionate Innovation Backer

He is known to withdraw funds from some of his public addresses to fund research ventures. In the controversial thread on X, he hinted that researchers working to keep COVID-19 strains under do not get enough support. This suggests he might likely consider funding some of these startups or founders.

Besides his core support for cryptocurrencies, Vitalik Buterin is also interested in innovations that better human life in general. Beside public health, he is also known to publicly advocate for privacy, especially on general-use social media platforms.

He has also joined the call on developers to properly anchor the use cases for memecoins for the greater good.

Read More: Vitalik Buterin Proposes Requirements For Meme Coin Dominance

 

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Godfrey Benjamin
Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalists who relish writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desires to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain based media and sites. Benjamin Godfrey is a lover of sports and agriculture. Follow him on X, Linkedin
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