Ethereum Foundation Selling ETH Again Raises Concerns Within the Community

The Ethereum Foundation has added to its growing ETH sale count. On Friday, September 20, crypto smart money tracker Lookonchain disclosed that one of the team's accounts had sold 300 ETH worth over $760,000.

After an extended period of uncertainty, the vibes in the crypto space are again beginning to feel immaculate as the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time in four years has sent risk markets soaring.

Even Ethereum (ETH), the second largest crypto asset by market cap, has not been left out of the rally despite recent concerns about its prospects amid continued market underperformance.

ETH has surged from lows of around $2,200 to trade past the psychologically important $2,500 price point. Amid the market excitement, however, recent asset movements from the Ethereum Foundation have given some investors pause for thought.

???: A close look at recent on-chain activity has revealed that the Ethereum Foundation has sold a total of 300 ETH in three tranches of 100 ETH each on CowSwap, as indicated by crypto smart money tracker Lookonchain. At current prices, these sales, which occurred on Friday, September 20, are collectively valued at over $760,000.

According to DailyCoin’s analysis of on-chain data, the foundation’s last sale was on September 11th, when it sold 200 ETH for around $520,000. Prior to that, the foundation last sold ETH on August 29th, shifting 2,000 ETH, currently valued at over $5.1 million, in a single transaction.

The Ethereum Foundation has now sold over 3,400 ETH this year. As of writing, the foundation has sold a total of 3,466 ETH in 2024, an amount that, at current prices, is worth nearly $9.7 million. This brings the foundation's average sale to around 151 ETH, currently valued at nearly $390,000, every 11 days.

While the sum is by no means market-moving, the frequency of the sell-off, especially amid less-than-ideal market conditions, has raised concerns for many investors.

The foundation’s asset transfers have become a hot-button topic in the crypto community in recent weeks, particularly after the team revealed its annual budget, which some have dubbed excessive.

In response to the uproar over a 35,000 ETH Kraken deposit in August, Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi disclosed that the foundation had an annual budget of about $100 million and the deposit, which she argued was not a sale, was part of “treasury management activities.”

However, many argued that the budget was excessive and demanded transparency on how these funds were allocated.

Responding to these calls for transparency in a Reddit ask-me-anything session earlier this month, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake asserted that the Ethereum Foundation would release a detailed financial report soon.

According to Arkham Intelligence data at the time of writing, the Ethereum Foundation still holds nearly 272,000 ETH, currently valued at over $690 million. Drake estimated that the Ethereum Foundation still had a decade of runway left.