In 2017 rumors of Vitalik's death caused ETH to plummet 25% in a matter of hours

... It was a year of 2017 ...a first bull market for Ethereum in which it had an impressive run from basically nothing to $1000. Somewhere towards the end of the bull run.. 25th june 2017 to be precise... a weird post on 4chan appeared.

“Vitalik Buterin confirmed dead. Insiders unloading ETH”

The post also contained the photoshopped image of a supposed news article. Apparently, someone started spreading the news that Vitalik had died in a car crash back in 2017. And of course, the internet went crazy with it.

This is google image search, the original post is ofc deleted (this is the best I could find)

The post quickly gained traction, and within hours, it was shared on other online forums and news media outlets. In a matter of hours ETH price plummeted from $300 to $230. Some users expressed their condolences, whilst others questioned the validity of the report.

Comments on the original post (which is now deleted)

Despite the lack of any credible evidence to support the claim, the rumour continued to spread, fueled in part by the fact that Buterin had not been active on social media for a few days before the post. To make things worse, the crypto market had d a significant drop around that time, which some attributed inside trading of people who knew about Vitalik's death before the news.

However, a few hours after the initial post, Vitalik himself took to Twitter to refute the rumours of his death:

\"Proof of life\"

Despite Vitalik's tweet, the rumours persisted for some time, with some even speculating that the Twitter account had been hacked.... Over time, the rumours eventually faded away, and ETH proceded to make new ATH 6 months later at ~$1450.

ETH Price during 2017

If Vitalik decided to step down for whatever reason today... do you think panic would ensue? Would ETH have the same appeal without Vitalik?

Sources: https://www.inverse.com/article/33422-a-strange-4chan-hoax-just-disrupted-ethereum-s-future

https://qz.com/1014559/vitalik-buterin-dead-a-hoax-on-4chan-crashed-ethereums-price

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2017/06/26/proof-of-life-vitalik-buterin-uses-ethereum-to-disprove-death-hoax/