The Ethereum Foundation (EF) staked over 45,000 Ether (ETH) on Friday, bringing its total staked to about 69,500 ETH — less than 500 ETH short of its 70,000 target. The deposits were made in a series of transactions of 2,047 ETH each. Arkham Intelligence valued the total amount staked on Friday at more than $92.2 million.
The EF began staking in February under a revised treasury policy announced in June 2025. The foundation intends to use staking yield to fund protocol research, development and ecosystem grants. In its updated treasury policy the EF said it was “increasingly moving into staking and DeFi, both to enhance financial sustainability and to support a key application category that is delivering on the promise of permissionless, secure access to base civilizational infrastructure for millions of people today.”
Earlier stakes included 2,016 ETH (about $4.1 million) in February and 22,517 ETH (about $46.1 million) in March. Arkham Intelligence reports the EF has locked over $143 million in ETH in the Ethereum Beacon Deposit Contract.
The shift to a yield-bearing treasury followed community pressure for the EF to generate income from its holdings rather than rely on selling tokens to fund operations. The EF previously sold ETH in OTC transactions, including a $10.2 million sale to BitMine.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has warned staking by the EF could force the foundation to take positions in the event of a contentious hard fork, saying in January 2025 that staking “de facto forces us to take a position on any future contentious hard fork.” The EF is reportedly exploring ways to mitigate centralization risks from its staking activity.
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