How Deep Does Ethereum’s Ties To Chinese Investors Run?

Ethereum and its founders have been the target of various accusations in the last couple of weeks ranging from fraud to the blockchain being run by the Chinese.

On-chain investigator Boring Sleuth has been one of the most vocal when it comes to Ethereum founders’ alleged wrongdoing, tying the network to the Chinese. The most recent iteration of this is the investigator sharing an investigation into the blockchain that could provide insight into how much Chinese investors dominate the network.

Chinese Investors Own Majority Of ETH

In the investigation that was shared by Boring Sleuth, it showed that Chinese investors could control a major portion of the ETH supply. This is because Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin reportedly prioritized Chinese investments in the early days of the network.

Apparently, Buterin had flown multiple times to China to meet with investors and would eventually even learn Mandarin to give a keynote speech. Buterin also met with Deng Chao, an investment manager at the Chinese Wanxiang Group, where the Ethereum founder had previously served as a chief scientist.

Additionally, the report claims that investors were able to circumvent Ethereum ICO limits because the rules were poorly enforced. Chinese investors also reportedly had a lot of influence in major decisions like the Ethereum hack and eventual hard fork that split the network in two.

According to Boring Sleuth, Buterin’s official wallets were also funded by Wanxiang Group. The Ethereum founder also previously worked at Fenbushi Capital and remains an advisor after he left the job.

Ethereum Founders Woes Grow

The allegations of close ties to China are not the only serious allegations that the Ethereum network and its founders are currently dealing with. A more pressing accusation comes from Steven Nerayoff, who was a former advisor for the network in the early stages.

According to Nerayoff, he has proof of Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin carrying out fraudulent activities. He has also accused the founders of trying to get him locked up with false accusations and has vowed to expose them.

The Ethereum insider has said that he plans to release the proof this week. On Tuesday, when asked when the community should expect this proof to drop, Nerayoff said that it “Should be within 48 hours hopefully less. Logistics, setting up smart NFTs, etc.”

For now, there’s no indication of what this ‘proof’ might be but if it is as damning as Nerayoff claims, then it could prove disastrous for the ETH price and trigger a crash.