Yesterday was the end of EthDenver. It is the largest Ethereum event anywhere. Denver hosted a series of presentations and discussions on a variety of topics about Ethereum for ten days.

Still only six years old, but already at a market cap of $328 billion, the world’s second biggest crypto offers technology that has facilitated all kinds of thrilling applications such as NFTs, DAOs and the launch of other cryptocurrencies, to name a few. Naturally, I wanted to talk about a pair of pyjamas the day after the event.

@WatcherGuru posted the above snap on Twitter from the EthDenver conference

We live in a world that Elon Musk can move markets at will. You could be forgiven for believing that Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum founder, walking through EthDenver in pyjamas decorated with Shiba Inu puppies might have an impact on the market for doggy tokens.

Surprisingly, Shiba did not ramp. It actually continued to lull.

via TradingView

Hmmm.

Hmmm. Perhaps we are maturing! A tweet is likely to carry more weight than a pair PJs. Vitalik did not explicitly endorse the outfit or call for action. But, I am curious about why he chose this outfit. Is he just playing? He was just having fun. He is probably just being funny, especially considering his chaotic relationship with the Shiba Inu group.

The Story

You’ll recall that last year, there was brief hysteria in the markets when Vitalik looked ready to “dump” the 50% of Shiba tokens which had been sent to him by the anonymous founder, Ryoshi, when Shiba was launched back in August 2020.

Originally created as a joke token inspired from Dogecoin. Half of the supply was sent directly to Vitalik. This was likely to be a tribute to one the most important minds in crypto. It is also a humorous way to “burn” (remove supply) half of the supply. As Shiba grew steadily over time, this was how it worked for a while – a proxy burning wallet. Vitalik probably didn’t know the coins were in his wallet or who Shiba was.

We all know the outcome. Shiba pumped north of a $14 billion market cap, and suddenly Vitalik was facing a very real moral dilemma over what to do with the approximate $7 billion dollars that he now sat on. He could sell it, which would undoubtedly lower the market price and leave investors with the bag. But, could he really afford to sit on billions or billions of dollars when so many people around the globe are struggling to make ends work?

He declared that he could not, before donating a billion dollars of SHIBA to India’s COVID relief fund. Live broadcast on blockchain, Vitalik’s transaction sent Shiba prices into freefall. The market was afraid Vitalik would donate all of his stack. “Vitalik dumping on us!”

The Dilemma

I felt for Vitalik. It’s an incredible amount of power to have. He never asked for it. The tokens were sent to Vitalik without his consent. It was a huge sum of money that could be used to help many people.

“I don’t want to be a locus of power of that kind” – Vitalik Buterin

The Shiba community was furious. Vitalik burned all the tokens he had left, thereby resolving his grievances to the Shiba community. The market stabilised and the price recovered (it even rocketed to a new all time high five months later, sitting at a $40 billion market cap).

What does the Pyjamas Really Mean?

It’s a wild tale but Vitalik wearing Shiba pajamas to the conference makes it seem like he is making peace with the chaotic meme currency. Apart from Vitalik’s joking around, there doesn’t seem to be any deeper meaning. The muted price response seems to have led the market to also agree. So perhaps it should merely be viewed as a light-hearted conclusion to a tale of how a 27 year-old computer whizz became the reluctant protagonist in a stranger-than-fiction story tying together doggy memes, thousands of overnight millionaire investors and a country struggling under the weight of a COVID crisis.