The Ethereum Foundation doubled the number of ether it has deployed into staking on Friday, bringing its total to 47,050 ETH worth roughly $96.6 million, pushing it past the two-thirds mark of its 70,000 ETH target, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.
It has been a quick ramp-up for the foundation, which only began staking less than two weeks ago, as it looks to generate yield on its treasury holdings rather than sell them off.
The staking push aligns with the foundation's 2025 treasury policy overhaul, which outlined plans to be more active with its significant ETH reserves, including staking deployments, to support ecosystem development and long-term sustainability. The foundation has also deployed ETH into DeFi platforms to generate income.
The foundation began staking in February with an initial round of 2,016 ETH and said at the time it planned to deploy roughly 70,000 ETH (~$143 million today) in total.
But in the past week, it has accelerated those efforts, first with a 22,517 ETH deposit on Monday — its largest at the time — followed by a matching allocation today.
These deployments are an about-face from the foundation’s prior reliance on periodic ETH sales to fund operations, a strategy that on many occasions drew criticism from parts of the Ethereum community.
In September, the foundation sold 10,000 ETH worth around $43 million at the time as part of its “ongoing work to fund research and development, grants and donations.”
It has also executed private sales with Ethereum treasury firms. Earlier this month, the foundation sold 5,000 ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies in a roughly $10 million deal, following a similar 10,000 ETH transaction with SharpLink Gaming last July.
The pivot to staking also aligns with the foundation’s positioning of itself as a steward of the network rather than a central authority, as outlined in a recent mandate emphasizing its role as “one of many” contributors to Ethereum’s long-term development.
Ethereum was trading mostly flat on the day at $2,050 according to The Block's crypto price data.
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