Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin says he's no longer a billionaire

• Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin tweeted Friday that he's no longer a billionaire.
• Crypto has crashed in recent weeks amid a broad sell-off in traditional markets.

Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin tweeted Friday that he's no longer a billionaire.

Buterin, who cofounded the blockchain network in 2014, has seen its Ether token crash by 59% since hitting a high of around $4,800 in November 2021, when his holding was valued at around $1.5 billion.

In another tweet Friday, Buterin said: "Eventually you make a mistake in your beliefs, and (especially if you are in politics, but some other domains too) correcting that mistake means acknowledging that a previous version of yourself contributed negative value to the world."

He also discussed the tradeoffs between "open-mindedness" and "passion," while expressing support for the blockchain he helped create. "Note to trolls: no, ethereum was not a mistake," he wrote.

Insider reached out to Buterin via Ethereum but did not immediately receive a response.

The TerraUSD and LUNA tokens crashed dramatically last week, wiping an estimated $40 billion from the market in a matter of days. TerraUSD, a so-called "stablecoin" supposedly pegged to the value of the dollar, was last valued at about 6 cents.

Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization after Bitcoin, which has lost about half its value in the past six months and is about 60% below its record high of $69,000.

Cameron Winklevoss, a cryptocurrency and Bitcoin investor, tweeted on May 12: "It's days like this that I remind myself of when #Bitcoin was under $100 dollars. It's all about perspective and HODLing for the long game."

Buterin, a Russia-born Canadian programmer, is one of several high-profile casualties of a crypto collapse that has affected investors across the board. Three investors spoke to Insider about losing thousands of dollars last week.