Key Takeaways
A prominent blockchain researcher is defending the Ethereum Foundation’s controversial multi-million dollar ETH sales, arguing critics misunderstand the organization’s core mission of protocol development over price promotion.
“Leave the Foundation Alone,” William Mougayar, a blockchain investor and author, said in a post on X, arguing that the non-profit is a protocol steward, not a marketing engine. “The asset is money. The infrastructure is shared compute. The Foundation is a non-profit that is steering the protocol toward irrelevance for its own founders.”
The defense comes as on-chain data shows the Foundation recently completed its third over-the-counter (OTC) sale to BitMine Immersion Technologies, selling a total of roughly 25,000 ETH for approximately $47 million. The sales coincided with the Foundation unstaking over 38,000 ETH, valued at nearly $90 million, from staking protocols including Lido.
This activity has fueled debate about the Foundation’s impact on ETH’s price, which remains more than 57 percent below its 2021 all-time high of $4,953. Mougayar’s argument frames the EF's treasury management not as a market signal, but as a necessary function for its "subtraction path"—a strategy to harden the protocol and fund core research to ensure Ethereum's long-term autonomy.
Mougayar’s central thesis is that the Ethereum Foundation’s goal is to become less critical to the network over time. “It is hardening the protocol so the world does not need it so much. It is shipping upgrades. It is funding the research that nobody else funds,” he wrote. He likened critics who expect the EF to market the ETH asset to "expecting the IETF to run Super Bowl ads for TCP/IP," highlighting the distinction between technical governance and promotional activities.
The recent treasury movements included a final tranche of 10,000 ETH sold to BitMine at an average price of $2,292, and two separate unstaking events of 17,035 ETH and 21,270 ETH. While proponents see this as prudent financial management for a non-profit, some investors view the large-scale sales as a headwind for the token's price. As of this writing, ETH was trading around $2,117, up about 4.7 percent on the day, according to CoinMarketCap data.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
