The Ethereum Foundation, a non-profit that supports the second-largest blockchain, has been scrutinized lately, with community members questioning why it sells rather than stakes its ether (ETH) holdings.
Now, blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin has responded, providing detailed insights into why the organization chose to sell.
Commitment to Ethereum Development
It all started with an October 25 social media post in which Buterin shared the roadmap for universal light client verification on Ethereum. A user responded by asking the programmer to stop dumping, referring to Buterin’s recently reported sales of small portions of his Ethereum holdings.
The 30-year-old replied soon after, telling the user he had not sold a single ETH token in the last month and that his holdings had actually grown in that time. It elicited a question from another community member, who wanted to know about the Ethereum Foundation’s position on the same.
Buterin gave several reasons why the organization regularly liquidated its ETH stash, including paying researchers and developers responsible for advancements such as EIP-1559. This proposal has reduced transaction times and network costs.
He added that the funds generated from the token sales also went into supporting zero-knowledge technology for privacy, account abstraction for user security, and several events promoting Ethereum globally. He said these efforts have helped the blockchain’s security and stability, with no downtime recorded since 2016.
Maintaining Neutrality Over Market Influence
According to the blockchain analytics platform Scopescan, the foundation has sold 4,066 ETH, with a market value just above $11 million. Scopescan calculated that with the current 3.1% staking return rate, the institution could rake in as much as $20.08 million per year if it staked the 271,000 ETH it reportedly owns.
However, Buterin explained that one of the main reasons the organization doesn’t stake its ETH is to avoid any “official choice” in the event of a contentious hard fork.
“We don’t want to be in the situation of being forced to make an ‘official choice’ if there’s a contentious hard fork.”
He argued that they wanted to maintain Ethereum’s decentralized ethos by letting other entities stake on behalf of the network. This would ensure that no single foundation has an outsized influence on the blockchain.
For this reason, the non-profit’s preference remains funding development and operations directly, which Buterin asserted aligns better with Ethereum’s long-term goals.
