Ethereum Foundation closes in on 70,000 ETH staking milestone
With its treasury overhaul centered on generating yields, the Ethereum Foundation has come within striking distance of achieving its 70,000 staked ETH objective.
On Friday, the Ethereum Foundation (EF)—the nonprofit entity responsible for guiding the development of the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem—deposited more than 45,000 Ether (ETH) into staking, elevating its cumulative staked holdings to approximately 69,500 ETH, falling just short of the organization's 70,000 target by fewer than 500 coins.
According to information sourced from Arkham Intelligence, the EF executed the staking operations through multiple transactions, with each individual transfer containing 2,047 ETH, resulting in Friday's total deposited amount reaching a valuation exceeding $92.2 million.
Beginning in February, the EF initiated its ETH staking program as an element of its redesigned treasury management approach that was publicly announced in June 2025, with plans to allocate the returns produced toward financing protocol research initiatives, ongoing development efforts, and grants supporting the broader ecosystem. According to the EF's refreshed treasury policy statement:
"We are now 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."
In February, the foundation deposited 2,016 ETH with an approximate value of $4.1 million, which was subsequently followed by a March deposit of 22,517 ETH worth roughly $46.1 million. Data from Arkham Intelligence indicates that the EF has committed over $143 million worth of ETH to the Ethereum Beacon Deposit Contract.
The decision to implement a yield-generating treasury management approach came in response to mounting pressure from members of the Ethereum community, who urged the EF to produce revenue from its existing treasury holdings to finance operational expenditures instead of persistently liquidating tokens to sustain funding requirements.
Vitalik Buterin warns EF staking may force positions in hard forks
Network validators, who commit tokens to provide security for proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain systems, have the capacity to determine which chain maintains validity should a network experience a hardfork, which represents a split of the network into two rival chains.
"If EF stakes, ourselves, this de facto forces us to take a position on any future contentious hard fork," Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said in January 2025.
Buterin further noted that the EF is investigating potential methods to reduce the centralization concerns created by its staking operations in scenarios involving a contentious hard fork.