Inventory of 7 Crypto Projects Backed by Vitalik Buterin
As a leader in the crypto industry, Vitalik Buterin remains active at the forefront. Aside from being widely recognized as the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik has also invested in several crypto projects under his personal capacity. On June 28th, MegaETH, a Layer 2 project aiming to build a high-performance real-time EVM, announced securing a $20 million funding round, with Vitalik appearing on the list as an investor. PANews conducted an inventory of Vitalik’s investments in crypto projects to gauge his performance as an investor.
According to publicly available information, Vitalik has invested in a total of 7 crypto projects to date. Among these, there are well-known projects like StarkNet and Polymarket, as well as projects with operational challenges, such as Nocturne, which announced cessation of operations earlier this June.
Inventory of 7 Crypto Projects Backed by Vitalik Buterin
As a leader in the crypto industry, Vitalik Buterin remains active on the forefront. Besides being widely known as the co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik has also made personal investments in several emerging crypto projects. On June 28th, MegaETH, a Layer 2 project aiming to establish a high-performance real-time EVM, announced securing a $20 million funding round, with Vitalik listed as an investor. PANews conducted an inventory of Vitalik’s investments in crypto projects to assess his performance as an investor.
According to publicly available information, Vitalik has invested in a total of 7 crypto projects to date. Among these, there are notable projects like StarkNet and Polymarket, as well as projects facing operational challenges, such as Nocturne, which announced its cessation earlier this June.
StarkNet: Highest Return Rate of 146x
StarkNet operates as a permissionless decentralized Validity-Rollup (also known as “ZK-Rollup”) on the Ethereum L2 network. Vitalik invested in StarkNet’s seed round in May 2018, with the total funding amounting to $6 million, although his specific share hasn’t been disclosed. According to chainbroker data, tokens from StarkNet’s seed round cost $0.025 each, with the STRK token reaching a peak of $3.66. Vitalik’s investment in StarkNet yielded a maximum return rate of 146x, with the current STRK price at $0.675, still providing a return of 27x compared to Vitalik’s cost.
In addition to financial support for StarkNet, Vitalik has publicly expressed support for the project multiple times on social media.
As of now, StarkNet has accumulated $260 million in funding, with its latest round completed in May 2022 at a valuation of $8 billion, raising $100 million.
In February 2024, StarkNet completed its first airdrop and launched its tokens. In May, Vitalik unlocked 845,205 STRK tokens from StarkNet, valued at $1.08 million. Currently, Vitalik has not sold any STRK tokens.
Aztec Network: $100 Million Funding with No Major Ups and Downs
Aztec Network is Ethereum’s first cross-chain privacy bridge. In 2021, Aztec Network announced completing a $17 million Series A funding round, led by Paradigm, with Vitalik also participating. In fact, as early as 2020, Vitalik supported Aztec Network on social media, showcasing his involvement in Aztec’s testing and predicting the imminent arrival of ZK rollup, Layer 2 expansion, and privacy.
In 2022, Aztec Network received another $100 million in Series B funding, accumulating total funding of $119 million. In 2023, the project launched the Aztec Sandbox Alpha program for developers, initially planned for an airdrop, but as of June 2024, Aztec has not announced the airdrop program, and market interest has gradually diminished. This seems to reflect a marketing capability issue, with the latest news indicating Aztec appointing Claire Kart, former Risc Zero marketing director, as the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
Kakarot: Innovative Experiment in the StarkNet Ecosystem
Kakarot is an EVM implemented on StarkNet using the Cairo language, considered a significant innovative experiment in the StarkNet ecosystem. In June 2023, Kakarot tweeted about completing its Pre-Seed funding round, with investments from Vitalik Buterin and StarkWare, among others. The project did not disclose the specific funding size, but as early as November 2022, Vitalik had retweeted Kakarot’s open-source release, praising it as “pretty cool.” On May 22, 2024, Kakarot announced its test network launch.
Nocturne: Fleeting Privacy Protocol
Nocturne was a privacy protocol on Ethereum, aiming to enable anonymous transactions within the Ethereum ecosystem. Founded in 2023, the project announced a $6 million seed round in October of the same year, with Vitalik as one of the investors. In November 2023, Nocturne deployed its V1 version on the Ethereum mainnet, but by January 2024, it announced shutting down the protocol. On June 6, Nocturne announced a gradual cessation of operations, retaining front-end withdrawal functionality.
Overall, Nocturne might be considered a relatively unsuccessful case in Vitalik’s investments, but the project’s closure reflects the challenges in the privacy sector. From the final outcome, Nocturne’s completion does not entirely disappoint Vitalik’s support.
Daimo: Wallet Application with Poor Marketing Capabilities
Daimo is a stablecoin wallet application without seed phrases, announcing a $2 million seed round in March 2024. Vitalik was also one of the investors. In March, Vitalik mentioned Daimo in his published article, likening it to Venmo on Ethereum (a popular crypto payment app). However, Daimo’s promotional effectiveness seems lacking so far, with just over 3,000 Twitter followers.
Polymarket: Rapid Growth from the US Election
Polymarket is a decentralized information market platform allowing users to predict controversial topics worldwide. Since its launch in 2020, Polymarket has gradually grown into a leading decentralized prediction market platform. In March 2024, Vitalik tweeted about Polymarket’s data on Gas fee reductions post EIP-4844 upgrade. In May 2024, Polymarket announced completing a $45 million Series B funding round, with Vitalik Buterin participating.
On July 2, Vitalik again mentioned on social media: “In my Twitter circle, it’s become quite normal to use Polymarket, metaculus, or http://electionbettingodds.com as evidence of the actual impact of daily political events.” In June 2024, with the intensifying US presidential election, Polymarket’s trading volume reached $100 million, setting a new historical high. As the heat around the US election continues to rise, Polymarket’s market momentum is expected to remain at a high level.
MegaETH: New Hope for Ethereum L2?
MegaETH is Vitalik’s recent investment project. On June 28th, MegaLabs announced completing a $20 million seed round. MegaETH claims to possess two key technologies — heterogeneous blockchain architecture and “super-optimized” EVM execution environment, capable of increasing TPS to 100,000. Currently, the project has not yet officially launched, but given its target and market enthusiasm, MegaETH could potentially become a significant weapon for Ethereum against Solana.
Among Vitalik’s investments in these 7 projects, most are focused on crypto infrastructure innovations such as privacy protocols, EVM, Layer 2, and wallets. StarkNet has already issued tokens, providing financial returns to Vitalik. Notably, there are projects like Nocturne, a fleeting example, and Polymarket, a hot project catching the wave, as well as MegaETH, a potential future star.
Overall, from a financial perspective, Vitalik’s investments may not all be considered successful. However, it’s evident that Vitalik’s choices primarily aim to better develop the Ethereum ecosystem. Moreover, Vitalik’s investment amounts have never been publicly disclosed, suggesting his strategic support may outweigh financial considerations. Nevertheless, from the development of Nocturne or Daimo, it’s apparent that having Vitalik’s endorsement alone isn’t enough to gain complete market trust; more critical tests lie in whether products can gain recognition from mainstream users in terms of product models and operational capabilities.