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An unexpected twist took place at the recent EDCON2024 in Tokyo. In the spotlight was Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum and one of the most influential people in the industry. Dressed in a kimono and wearing a horse's head, Buterin answered the question, "Who are you?" in his opening speech with "I'm a Dogecoin hodler".

However, for those who have been keeping an eye on Buterin for a long time, this is not news. Buterin's interest in DOGE has been known since 2015. What's more, in 2016, he said he had not sold any of his Dogecoins and was even planning to buy more. Fast forward to 2021, and the Ethereum founder was discussing the possibility of DOGE switching to proof-of-stake consensus using Ethereum's code. 

How much DOGE does Buterin own?

Little is known about how much DOGE Buterin owns. However, he said on Lex Frodman's podcast in 2016 that he invested around $25,000 because he liked the ethos and community. The average price of Dogecoin (DOGE) in 2016 was around $0.0002. This means that Buterin may have acquired 125 million DOGE, which is equivalent to a bag of $15.63 million today.

Whether Buterin kept his Dogecoin bags or not is an open question, but it shows once again how the right vision and approach can play out with the right cryptocurrency. If it is authentic, unites people and has the feel of a cultural coin, whether it is Bitcoin or a meme coin like DOGE, it is likely to benefit its owners in the long run.