Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin was at the center of a debunked story suggesting that he had died this weekend, one that he later moved to disprove by using the tech itself.

The hoax originated on the 4chan internet forum yesterday, with posts stating that Buterin had died in a car crash. The story was picked up by at least one online news site, VioNews, though the article and a corresponding tweet were later removed once the story was revealed to be false.

Amidst the rumors, Buterin ultimately took to social media to prove that he was, in fact still alive, posting an ethereum block number and corresponding hash.

Another day, another blockchain use case. pic.twitter.com/OyHzdhEeGR

— Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) June 26, 2017

It was a move that echoed one taken by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who, amidst rumors of his own demise, turned to the bitcoin blockchain as a “proof of life” tool during a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything session in January.

Word that Buterin had died, however, had an impact on the market for ether, the cryptocurrency of the ethereum network, with the rumor sending the price below $300.

That market decline has continued, market data shows, with the price of ether dropping to about $231 at press time, a drop of more than 20{88c91daedd271a990a10650c05d769cae2765e0603edf30ca95f18704e5748e8} since the start of the day’s trading.

Image by CoinDesk 

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