The Ethereum Foundation has begun staking a portion of its treasury, depositing 2,016 ETH today as the first tranche of a broader plan to stake approximately 70,000 ETH. All staking rewards will be directed back to the EF treasury to fund protocol R&D, ecosystem development, and community grants, effectively replacing years of controversial ETH sell-offs with protocol-native yield.
At current prices, the full 70,000 ETH commitment represents roughly $128M locked into validators rather than sold on the open market.
The Foundation sold approximately 36,000 ETH via CoW Swap throughout 2025, triggering repeated community backlash. A $650M wallet transfer in October 2025 sparked dump fears, forcing co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang to clarify it was a planned migration.
Staking changes that dynamic entirely. Based on the CoinDesk Composite Ether Staking Rate (CESR), the current ETH staking yield is approximately 2.808%. On 70,000 ETH, that translates to roughly $3.6M per year flowing into the treasury without a single token being sold.
The Foundation is using open-source tools Dirk and Vouch by Attestant. Dirk acts as a distributed signer across multiple jurisdictions, removing single points of failure. Vouch supports multi-client pairings to reduce client diversity risks.
The Ethereum Foundation said:
“We are excited to take this important step, which helps secure the Ethereum network and at the same time fund the EF’s core operations & activities, including protocol R&D, ecosystem development, community grant funding and more.”
The setup employs minority clients across hosted and self-managed hardware in several countries.
The Foundation’s shift to staking comes as co-founder Vitalik Buterin moves in the opposite direction, selling over 10,700 ETH worth $21.7M in February alone. ETH is trading near $1,821, down 37% over the past month.
Arkham Intelligence data shows the EF still holds 172,650 ETH plus 10,000 WETH. Staking the full 70,000 would lock roughly 38% of its total ETH holdings out of liquid circulation, reducing one of the largest known sources of recurring sell pressure on Ethereum.
The Ethereum Foundation is staking to earn rewards instead of selling tokens. This provides sustainable funding for protocol research and development using staking yield, removing the need for controversial ETH sell-offs that previously impacted the market.
The Ethereum Foundation plans to stake approximately 70,000 ETH from its treasury. They have deposited the first tranche of 2,016 ETH, with the full commitment representing about $128 million worth of Ether locked into validators.
Based on the current CoinDesk Composite Ether Staking Rate, the yield is approximately 2.808%. On the full 70,000 ETH commitment, this generates roughly $3.6 million per year in rewards for the Foundation’s treasury.
Staking 70,000 ETH removes approximately 38% of the Foundation’s liquid holdings from circulation. By locking these tokens in validators instead of selling them, the move significantly reduces sell pressure on Ethereum in the open market.
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