Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has countered bizarre reports he had died in a car crash with cryptographic proof.
On Sunday, certain pseudo-news and social media resources began reporting the celebrated developer’s body had been pulled from wreckage lifeless.
Buterin then posted a tweet refuting the information in classic style, using the Ethereum Blockchain as proof he was still alive and kicking.
Another day, another blockchain use case. pic.twitter.com/OyHzdhEeGR
— Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) June 26, 2017
The story appears to have stemmed from fake news website Vionews, which released a now-deleted article which made references to Buterin from “Etherium” as “confirmed” dead in a crash in British Columbia.
The report continued to suggest that Ethereum’s weekend falls were a result of Buterin’s death, while the coin’s downturn had in fact begun prior to the “news” surfacing.
Last week saw multiple ICOs put considerable pressure on the Ethereum network, the most recent of which saw a backlog of nearly 10,000 transactions on Saturday as TenX concluded its token sale.
The erroneous news is a useful demonstration of Ethereum’s newly-acquired public profile, the asset increasingly becoming a household name after years as an unknown.