The nonprofit organization Ethereum Foundation (EF) has begun staking a portion of its treasury funds. The first transaction involved 2016 ETH. 

1/ The Ethereum Foundation has begun staking a portion of its treasury, in line with its Treasury Policy announced last year.

Today, the EF made a 2016 ETH deposit. Approximately 70,000 ETH will be staked with rewards directed back to the EF treasury.

— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) February 24, 2026

In the first phase, the foundation will lock a total of 70,000 ETH. All earnings will support the ecosystem of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, funding research and community grants. 

“We are pleased to take this important step that will help secure the Ethereum network while also funding core operations and activities of the EF,” representatives stated. 

For staking, EF is utilizing open tools Dirk and Vouch from Attestant. Dirk acts as a distributed signer, coordinating operations across jurisdictions and eliminating a single point of failure. Vouch manages validator functions.

The organization oversees assets worth $371 million, with the majority—$314 million—held in Ethereum. 

Source: Arkham Intelligence. 

Previously, EF has faced criticism for systematic ETH sales. The community has also questioned the transparency of the organization’s financial operations and why the foundation's funds were not utilized for staking to generate income.

Buterin's Sales 

Since early February, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold over 10,000 ETH worth $21.7 million at an average price of $2027. Analysts from Onchain Lens noted this activity. 

Vitalik (@VitalikButerin) continues selling $ETH.

In the past 2.5 days, he has sold 3,765 $ETH for $7.08M.

Since Feb 2nd, he has sold 10,723 $ETH for $21.74M at a price of $2,027.

Address: 0xfeb016d0d14ac0fa6d69199608b0776d007203b2 pic.twitter.com/YTMr3DOkih

— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) February 24, 2026

According to Lookonchain, in just three days (February 21-23), the programmer sold 3765 ETH for $7.08 million. 

vitalik.eth(@VitalikButerin) continues to sell $ETH.

Over the past 3 days, he has sold 3,788.57 $ETH($7.3M).https://t.co/pMvkZHjIyDhttps://t.co/yQHZT3jRtA pic.twitter.com/wDreT4ysOW

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 24, 2026

At the end of January, Buterin announced that the Ethereum Foundation was entering a phase of “moderate austerity.” To support this initiative, he contributed 16,384 ETH (around $43 million at the time). The funds are intended for projects in areas such as: 

  • finance;
  • communications;
  • governance;
  • operating systems;
  • secure hardware;
  • biotechnology. 

Timing 

The sales occur amid a significant correction in Ethereum: over the past month, the asset has dropped 38% and is trading at around $1800. This is more than 60% below its all-time high reached in August 2025. 

Hourly chart of ETH/USDT on Binance. Source: TradingView. 

The community's reaction to Buterin's transfers has been mixed. Some criticized him for “dumping his own project.” Others supported the programmer, reminding that he publicly disclosed his sales. 

“Positioning the situation as ‘pure sales’ distorts the understanding of intentions. It creates unnecessary concerns, missing the funding goals. […] The full context must be considered,” wrote a user under the pseudonym Danny Daily Note. 

Previously, transfers from Buterin's wallet coincided with declines in cryptocurrency prices, noted Lookonchain. For instance, before selling 6958 ETH ($14.78 million), the price dropped from $2360 to $1825 (-22.7%). 

On February 22-23, when the Ethereum co-founder sold 1869 ETH ($3.67 million), prices fell from $1988 to $1875 (-5.7%).

Recall that on February 19, a bearish pennant pattern indicating a potential strong downward price movement formed on the daily chart of the asset.