The Ethereum Foundation, one of the largest entities on the Ethereum network, has initiated the withdrawal of 21,270 ETH—valued at around $50 million—by unstaking the amount through Lido. According to blockchain analytics company Arkham, the transfer was carried out earlier this week via a wallet linked to the Foundation.
Staking exit and Lido process
This transaction means the funds have been withdrawn from the Ethereum Beacon Chain and placed into Lido’s exit queue. As a result, these assets are no longer locked for the purpose of helping secure the network. So far, there has not been any official statement from the Foundation regarding whether it is planning to sell the unstaked ETH.
Under Lido’s system for unstaking, assets enter a waiting queue, and users can only transfer the ETH back into their accounts once all required processes have been finalized.
Previous treasury adjustments and sales
This unstake move is consistent with the Ethereum Foundation’s recent steps in treasury management. At the end of April, the Foundation also unstaked another 17,000 ETH. This was followed by a 10,000 ETH over-the-counter (OTC) sale to Bitmine on May 1.
Back in June 2025, the Foundation announced an update to its treasury policy. Under the new guidelines, staking activities are intended to support ongoing Ethereum protocol development. Responding to criticism from the community over previous direct sales, the Foundation also committed to reducing the portion of ETH sold directly from its treasury.
In the past few months, the Foundation steadily increased its total staked ETH. The process began with a 2,016 ETH stake in February, added 22,517 ETH in March, and contributed over 45,000 ETH early in April. Just before this latest unstaking, the Foundation’s total staked ETH stood at around 69,500.
Potential unstake motivations and recent developments
The Arkham team has linked this most recent withdrawal to the Foundation’s operational expenses as it continues to develop the Ethereum protocol. The analytics firm also noted that recent security concerns in the decentralized finance sector could have influenced the Foundation’s decision.
Just a few days ago, a hack at Kelp DAO led to losses of more than $293 million, fueling sector-wide concerns about the security of third-party protocols. These heightened concerns likely pushed the Foundation to bring its assets back under its own control.
Arkham emphasized that the withdrawal may have been driven both by ongoing Ethereum development expenses and heightened security worries within the ecosystem.
As of now, the Ethereum Foundation has not made any moves to sell the recently unstaked assets. All attention is on the Foundation’s upcoming strategies and changes in its staking policy.
