Ethereum Foundation Sells 10,000 ETH to BitMine in OTC Deal

The Ethereum Foundation has announced the sale of 10,000 ETH to the Ethereum treasury company BitMine. The foundation shared the details in an X post, noting that it sold the ETH for an average price of $2,387.

This is the second time the Ethereum Foundation has sold its ETH to the company with the largest ETH holding. It had earlier sold 5,000 ETH to BitMine in March for an average price of $2,043.

Proceeds From ETH Sales To Be Spent on Operations and Grants

According to the foundation, the over $23 million raised from the recent sale will fund its operations and activities. This includes protocol and ecosystem research and development, as well as community grants.

The foundation noted that sales are part of its treasury management activities, which align with the treasury policy published in 2025.

Under the policy, the Ethereum Foundation may sell Ether for fiat periodically based on the deviation of the fiat-denominated assets in its treasury from its years of operating expense buffer.

Interestingly, selling ETH was not the only treasury management activity the foundation conducted today. It also swapped around 21,269 aWETH to wstETH, noting that it is part of ongoing deleveraging work.

DeFi Community Criticizes Ethereum Foundation Over Sale

Meanwhile, the sale of ETH by the Ethereum Foundation has attracted criticism despite aligning with its treasury policy. For many, the time of the sale is the problem.

They noted that Ethereum-based DeFi protocols are currently rallying to help recover KelpDAO rsETH, which lost its peg to ETH after the over $290 million hack.

Despite mitigation efforts, recovered and recoverable Ether is approximately 87,955 ETH, representing 54% of rsETH reserves. This leaves a hole of 75,081 ETH that the DeFi United coalition is trying to fill.

As part of the recovery efforts, Aave has proposed contributing 25,000 ETH, while Mantle has offered a 30,000-ETH credit facility.

Other protocols and stakeholders, including EtherFi, Lido, BDG Labs, Ink, Stani Kulechov, Emilio Fragella, and Ernesto Boado, also committed to contributing 14,570 ETH.

Unsurprisingly, the Foundation’s decision to sell ETH at this point without making any donation or comment on the recovery efforts has attracted the scorn of the Ethereum community.

Interestingly, the pushback from some users has been focused on why grants to Ethereum builders are not in ETH. However, DeFi Coordinator at the Ethereum Foundation, ivangbi, noted that selling ETH for fiat is because volatile currencies are not ideal for payments and accounting.

BitMine Continues to Stack ETH

While the Ethereum Foundation is attracting criticism for selling ETH, BitMine’s recent purchase further increased its holdings. The publicly traded company is now close to reaching the 5 million ETH milestone.

According to its holdings update on April 20, it holds 4,976,485 ETH. With the latest publicly disclosed purchase and its current acquisition trend, it could reach 5 million in ETH holdings as soon as next week.

This highlights the firm’s bullishness despite ETH struggles. The cryptocurrency is up 7% in the past 30 days, even as it remains down 22% year-to-date.